ZUS Coffee frustrated Chery Tiggo in the final Pool B match of PVL on Tour, spoiling the Crossovers' hopes of an outright quarterfinals slot.
The ZUS Coffee Thunderbelles denied the Chery Tiggo Crossovers outright entry into the quarterfinals with a five set win, 19-25, 25-22, 18-25, 25-19, 15-6, at the Candon City Arena in Ilocos Sur on Tuesday afternoon.
In the final day of preliminaries, ZUS Coffee fought back from a set down twice in the match before running away in the deciding fifth set to frustrate the Crossovers, who had a chance to skip the knockout play-ins.
Rookie AC Miner proved pivotal in Set 4 for ZUS with nine points in that set alone as they forced Chery Tiggo to the deciding fifth set.
Then in set 5, Chinnie Arroyo helped power a strong start where they seized a 6-2 lead after an off the block hit. The Thunderbelles also took advantage of an errant Chery Tiggo side with an error also giving them match point, 14-6.
But it was veteran leader Jovelyn Gonzaga, who played sparingly for head coach Jerry Yee in Candon, who provided the game winner on a down the line hit that ended a long rally.
Floor general Cloanne Mondoñedo clinched Player of the Game honors after leading her team to the win with 36 excellent sets.
ZUS Coffee awaits the loser of the next match up between the Petro Gazz Angels and the Choco Mucho Flying Titans for the knockout play-in match.
Chery Tiggo, meanwhile, will be facing a win-hungry Galeries Tower squad that lost all its matches in pool play.
The Creamline Cool Smashers claimed the other outright quarterfinals spot along with the Cignal HD Spikers in Pool B.