Foton, Cignal zero in on semis berths
Third-ranked Foton seeks to keep its three-peat drive going as it guns for a semifinal seat against surging Sta. Lucia today in the Chooks-to-Go Philippine Superliga Grand Prix at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan today.
No. 4 Cignal HD sets its sights on the Last-4 as well, hoping to buck the absence of two of its locals against Cocolife in the other knockout quarterfinal encounter.
The defending back-to-back titlist Tornadoes, backed by explosive Serbian reinforcement Sara Klisura who rewrote league records with her 41-point explosion against F2 Logistics, try to halt the streaking No. 6 Lady Realtors in their 4:15 p.m. dispute for the right to join F2 Logistics and Petron in the next round.
Sta. Lucia struggled most of the elims, limping with a solitary victory in its first six outings, but breathed life to its faltering campaign and finished the eliminations with back-to-back wins over the Asset Managers and Generika-Ayala Lifesavers.
“We are ready,” said Foton’s Serbian coach Moro Branislav. Lady Realtors coach Jerry Yee banks on the momentum of their late surge while also hoping that the heavily favored Tornadoes fall to complacency in facing Sta. Lucia, a lower ranked squad whom Foton battered in the elims in straight sets.
“Every team has a chance. I hope they (Foton) will have a little complacency also,” said Yee.
“I hope we will be able to carry over the momentum. The players are motivated. I think we are just peaking at the right time. The players enjoy during the games and in practices so I don’t think there will be a problem,” added Yee.
Locals MJ Phillips, Jonah Sabete, Pamela Lastimosa and Djanel Cheng are expected to step up anew for Sta. Lucia to back Ukrainian Bohdana Anisova, who normed a whopping 30 points in their past two victories, and middle blocker Marisa Field and libero Kristen Moncks against Klisura, Dragana Perunicic of Montenegro and Jaja Santiago of Foton.