Chery Tiggo notches solid finish in tuneup tournament

Chery Tiggo Crossovers’ Aby Maraño in the PNVF Champions League. –CONTRIBUTED PHOTO

Chery Tiggo accomplished its goals with the bronze that it took home in the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) Champions League.

And with just around 10 games together with their upgraded roster, the Crossovers are building the steam that they need ahead of the new Premier Volleyball League (PVL) season.

“This [bronze medal] is such a big help for us because we are all still adjusting with the system and our chemistry,” coach Kung Fu Reyes told reporters after Chery Tiggo handily defeated College of St. Benilde, 25-20, 25-13, 25-13 at Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Saturday.

“That’s the No. 1 [priority], how we will execute our defense, our attacking now with Tyang (Aby Maraño) and Ara [Galang],” he added after Chery Tiggo took advantage of a tired Lady Blazers side who just got off a marathon match against Cignal for their semifinal pairing on Friday.

The Crossovers had a 38-26 attack advantage against Benilde, whose 25 errors did not help its cause.

Now with Maraño and Galang bolstering the Crossovers’ already powerful offense, Chery Tiggo clinched third place of the tournament by winning four of their six games, its latest defeat coming from a Brooke van Sickle backed Petro Gazz in their semifinal game also on Friday.

But it is only the start for Reyes and the revamped Chery Tiggo squad as they ramp up their preparations for the much tougher competition ahead.

“I am happy because at least we protected the top three spot. This is a good experience for us with Ara and Tyang. This is a great start for us,” Reyes said.

Mylene Paat continued to lead the Crossovers with 11 points while the former F2 Logistics cogs contributed 10 points each.

Galang will look to be even better after the PNVF stint with just weeks left before the PVL unfolds.

“We learned a lot from [this tournament] before the PVL so hopefully we can still polish our movements more and we get to work more as a team,” the 29-year old veteran said.