MANILA, Philippines – With a 21 to 25, 25 to 23, 25 to 23, 25 to 16 victory over Choco Mucho on Thursday at the Philsports Arena in the Premier Volleyball League All Filipino Conference, PLDT and coach Rald Ricafort guaranteed a semifinal matchup with Petro Gazz.

They also made room for the Creamline-F2 Logistics matchup in the other Final Four pairing.

However, after finishing the single-round eliminations tied for second with the Angels and the Cargo Movers at 6 to 2, the High-Speed Hitters had to withstand the Flying Titans’ tenacious defense before pounding out the four-set victory for the required tiebreak points (3) to secure the No. 3 seeding.

With a 7 to 1 (win-loss) record, defending champion Creamline ruled the nine-team competition, and Petro Gazz, with 19 tiebreaker points, secured the second seed as early as last Tuesday. F2 Logistics finished in fourth place with 16 points, while PLDT claimed third place with 18 points.

The Flying Titans were still in game mode even though they had already lost their chance to advance to the semifinals, and the High-Speed Hitters practically fought for every point to complete their task. Mean Mendrez led another impressive PLDT finish with 21 points.

We need to build the confidence we need for the next round, added Mendrez, who also had strong support from four other players who finished with double-digit contributions.

Mendrez continued, “But we must work harder and try to maintain our composure,” in reference to their eagerly anticipated matchup against the Angels at the start of the best-of-three semi-finals tomorrow, also in the Pasig arena.

Mika Reyes led the way in the middle with 18 points, followed by Dell Palomata and Jovie Prado, who each tallied 12 hits, and Michelle Morente, who finished with 10 points to round off the two-hour, 12-minute match that delighted the spectators with its lengthy exchanges and outstanding digs and saves.

Choco Mucho, which shocked PLDT with a furious first-set effort but wavered in the stretch in the next two before losing steam in the fourth, was led by Kat Tolentino and Isa Molde, who both scored 14 points, while Bea de Leon contributed 13 points, Maddie Madayag scored eight points, and Des Cheng added seven.

In reference to his team’s battle against the Flying Titans, who got off to a good start, Ricafort noted, “that is our lesson—the slow start, we need to learn, if we can manage the game.

While facing his old squad again in the semifinal game against the Angels, Ricafort proclaimed with assurance that at least they had played them once before. We will review the game once more because it was good.

In five matches, as of Feb. 23, PLDT defeated Petro Gazz.