ZUS inches closer to QF spot after outlasting Cignal

MANILA, Philippines — ZUS showed its godly form after taking down Cignal in a hard-fought five setter, 19-25, 25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 15-12, in the play-in round of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) 2024-25 All-Filipino Conference at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City on Tuesday.

Holding a 2-1 set advantage, ZUS wasted its 12-3 lead as Cignal trimmed the lead to four, 20-16.

Vanie Gandler went hot and propelled her team to a 10-3 run late in the stretch, 25-23, to force a decider.

In the fifth frame, both teams played neck on neck, but Jov Gonzaga showed her veteran ways after leading her squad to near a match point advantage, 13-10.

Cignal managed to gain two points on Jacq Acuña's attack, and Gonzaga's attack error, but Chai Troncoso made two consecutive kills to hand ZUS its big victory, 15-12.

Chinnie Arroyo led the scoring of ZUS with 20 points on 18 attacks, and two aces.

Cignal's chance to make it to the quarterfinals turns blur as ZUS only needed to win against bottom team Capital 1 in Pool A to complete the quarterfinalists.

If Capital1 defeats ZUS in its clash on Thursday, Cignal will make it to the playoffs via set ratio.