Focused squarely on claiming the No. 1 seed, Farm Fresh brushed aside its final obstacle with the poise of a true contender, repelling Chery Tiggo to zero in on the coveted top spot in the PVL Reinforced Conference quarterfinals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Foxies responded to coach Alessandro Lodi\u2019s familiar, results-driven philosophy, shaking off the Crossovers\u2019 early resistance before wresting control in the crucial stretch to complete a hard-earned 25-17, 25-23, 29-27 victory at the close of their two-phase preliminaries at the MOA Arena on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Farm Fresh ended with a 7-1 record and 21 points, edging erstwhile leader ZUS Coffee (7-1, 20 points) in the razor-tight battle for the top of the table. The top-seed picture now boils down to one remaining match <\/strong>\u2013 PLDT vs. Petro Gazz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A straight-set victory by PLDT, currently with a 6-1 slate, will net the High Speed Hitters the top spot but a four- or five-set win or a loss will hand the Foxies the No. 1 spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The one-hour, 29-minute victory was anything but smooth, however. The Foxies squandered an eight-point cushion in Set 3 and had to survive three set points before escaping on import Eli Rosseaux\u2019s late-set heroics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Trisha Tubu and Ces Molina delivered clutch hits to tie the frame at 24 and 26, respectivel, then Rosseaux countered counterpart Yuni Batista\u2019s back-row bullet with her own backrow shot aided by the net. After Batista hammered another kill, the Belgian reinforcement answered yet again before Farm Fresh earned match point on a Batista long attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A tense rally followed, punctuated by Rosseaux seemingly hammering the final point \u2013 only for play to continue. Forced to challenge a suspected floor touch, the Foxies saw the video review confirm the infraction, sealing not just the match but the inside track to the No. 1 seed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe just kept pushing for each point and taking deep breaths to reset,\u201d said setter Alohi Robins-Hardy, who claimed another Best Player of the Game citation with 24 excellent sets plus seven points in a standout performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She also praised Chery Tiggo for its spirited third-set fightback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShoutout to Chery Tiggo \u2013 they\u2019re an awesome team. They fought and they really battled,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the win, Farm Fresh rolled to its fourth straight victory and heads to the knockout quarterfinals carrying momentum, confidence and the aura of a team ready for a title breakthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, Robins-Hardy insisted perfection remains a pursuit, not an expectation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNothing absolutely perfect, but we\u2019re striving for that,\u201d she said. \u201cBeing a lot steadier throughout the match \u2013 no matter how many sets \u2013 we\u2019re just going to keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rosseaux finished with 20 points, backed by Molina\u2019s 14 and Tubu\u2019s 13. Lorene Toring chipped in eight. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Focused squarely on claiming the No. 1 seed, Farm Fresh brushed aside its final obstacle with the poise of a true contender, repelling Chery Tiggo to zero in on the coveted top spot in the PVL Reinforced Conference quarterfinals. The Foxies responded to coach Alessandro Lodi\u2019s familiar, results-driven philosophy, shaking off the Crossovers\u2019 early resistance…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4175,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
Batista fired 28 for the Crossovers, while Ara Galang and Mylene Paat added nine and eight as they exited at 2-6 for 10th place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n