Vengeful Chery Tiggo earned a gritty 29-27, 27-29, 25-18, 25-23, against collegiate champion College of St. Benilde to barge into the winner’s circle of the Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) Champions League on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.

It took a while for the Crossovers to heat up after being challenged by the Lady Blazers in the first two sets before regaining their bearings in the last two sets for a huge rebound following a deflating debut loss versus Cignal on Sunday.

Four players hammered twin digits led by former PVL MVP Mylene Paat with 16 points on 13 hits, two blocks and an ace as Chery Tiggo needed two hours and six minutes to dispatch the hard-fighting NCAA and PNVF Challenge Cup champions.

Prized recruits Aby Maraño and Ara Galang, former F2 Logistics players, threw in 12 points apiece as Cza Carandang added the same output in the new-look Chery Tiggo’s first win in the five-team backed by PLDT Ayala Land, Nuvali, Cignal, One Sports, One Sports+, Mikasa, Senoh, Foton, the Philippine Olympic Committee and the Philippine Sports Commission.

“Ang naging advantage lang namin siguro 'yung maturity ng mga players sa loob ng court kasi first two sets, medyo struggle eh,” said deputy Brian Esquibel in lieu of head coach Kungfu Reyes, who had to attend to UST’s knockout game in the UAAP Season 86 girls volleyball playoffs.

“Isang factor na rin 'yun (new team, new players). Hindi pa gamay ‘yung bawat isa. Andon yung skills ng individual pero 'yung as a team, mino-mold pa lang namin.”

Eager to shrug off a 26-28, 19-25, 25-27 loss versus the HD Spikers, the Crossovers were hopeful of a bounce-back win only to find themselves in a dogfight right off the bat against the young but equally capable wards of seasoned mentor Jerry Yee.

Chery Tiggo stared at a 22-24 deficit before launching a searing 7-3 attack to draw first blood. CSB returned the favor in the second set, flipping a 25-26 deficit capped by Gayle Pascual’s back-to-back hits for the same set score as both teams traded haymakers after one another.

The Crossovers went on to flaunt their experience from there on, keeping the Lady Blazers at bay in the third and fending off their repeated rallies in the fourth, highlighted by Maraño’s timely eruption.

“Grabe itong game namin vs CSB. Naging advantage lang siguro namin ‘yung gulang,” said Maraño, who scored two points in CSB’s finishing blow from a 21-22 deficit for the feisty win.

Chery Tiggo (1-1) will try to make it two straight wins against Petro Gazz (1-1) while St. Benilde (1-1) eyes a bounce back opposite unbeaten Cignal, which zoomed to 2-0 lead late Tuesday night after a 16-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-22 win against the Angels.

Gayle Pascual paced the Lady Blazers with 19 points with three others scoring double-digit outputs in their tough defeat after a five-set debut win against the Philippine Army.

Only the top four squads after the single-round eliminations will advance in the first event this year of the PNVF headed by President Ramon “Tats” Suzara.

All games are aired live on One Sports and One Sports+ and livestreamed on Pilipinas Live and on delayed basis on Cignal.