Cignal seeks to regain mojo as play-in begins

CIGNAL seeks to regain its lost signal as the 2025 Premier Volleyball League (PVL) All-Filipino Conference play-in tournament begins at the PhilSports Arena on Thursday.

The HD Spikers face the Capital 1 Solar Spikers in Pool A action, which also features ZUS Coffee, at 6:30 p.m.

Chery Tiggo and Nxled collide at 4 p.m. in Pool B which includes Farm Fresh.

The top two teams in each pool after a single-round robin will complete the quarterfinal cast that already has defending champ Creamline, Petro Gazz, PLDT, Choco Mucho, Akari and Galeries Tower, which shocked Cignal in their qualifying round match on Feb. 27.

Determined to turn things around after placing 10th in the seeding round, the Highrisers towered above the third seed HD Spikers, 25-17, 25-22, 19-25, 25-19, to advance to the playoffs and relegate Cignal to the play-in tournament.

Certainly, the Shaq Delos Santos-mentored HD Spikers are raring to bounce back with Ishie Lalongisip, Vanie Gandler and Jackie Acuña out to lead the way.

Meanwhile, 11th seed Capital 1 yielded to second seed Petro Gazz, 19-25, 23-25, 21-25, in their qualifying round match on March 1 to ultimately set up a match with Cignal here in the play-in tourney.

Jorelle Singh, Heather Guino-o and Leila Cruz are expected to lead the charge for the Roger Gorayeb-coached team that has only won once so far in the conference.

Over at Pool B, eighth seed Chery Tiggo looks to bounce back from a 22-25, 22-25, 23-25 defeat to fifth seed Choco Mucho in their qualifying match on March 1 and take it out against Nxled.

Ara Galang, Cess Robles and Aby Maraño are out to drive the Crossovers safety, but the Chameleons are looking to recover as well.

Placing 12th after the seeding round, Nxled found more trouble in the qualifying round after succumbing to top seed Creamline, 18-25, 17-25, 17-25, on Feb. 27.

Chiara Permentilla, EJ Laure, Lycha Ebon look to rally the Chameleons as they try to save a losing conference.

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Games today (PhilSports Arena): 4 p.m. Chery Tiggo v Nxled, 6:30 p.m. Cignal v Capital 1