Lady Stags seek No. 3 vs Tams

MANILA, Philippines - San Sebastian and Far Eastern U clash today in a duel of fancied teams with the Lady Stags gunning for their third straight win and the Lady Tams hoping to firm up their hold of second place in the Shakey’s V-League Season 6 at The Arena in San Juan City.

Both teams are coming off victories the last time out with SSC thumping St. Benilde in straight sets for its second straight win and FEU holding off Ateneo-OraCare in four sets to record its third win in four games in the single round-robin elims of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

It will be a duel of power hitters with Elaine Cruz, Margarita Pepito, Joy Benito and Melissa Mirasol expected to lead the Lady Stags’ charge and Rachel Daquis, Shaira Gonzalez, Cherry Vivas and skipper Rose Cabanag tipped to carry the fight for the Lady Tams.

Focus will also be on the two teams’ net defense and court coverage when they collide in the 4 p.m. main game of a twinbill.

St. Benilde and Lyceum, meanwhile, tangle in a duel of winless teams at 2 p.m. in another exciting encounter with both teams needing a victory to remain in the hunt for one of the six quarterfinal berths in the tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel, Mikasa, Mighty Bond and OraCare.

UST, which beat SSC for the first conference crown last June, clinched the first spot in the next round by sweeping its first five games while Adamson posted a 3-2 card before the two teams took a break to compete in the Unigames in Iloilo City this week.

But top-notch women’s volley action will be provided by SSC and FEU in a match tipped to go down-to-the-wire with the Lady Tams showing great promise in their recent victories.

The Lady Stags, however, remain the slight favorites since they’re playing with a lot of confidence following their successful title retention bid in the recent NCAA championship, which they won for the fifth straight year.

Matches can be viewed live on webcast at www.v-league.ph. NBN-4 will also telecast the games on a delayed basis – the Lyceum-St. Benilde match at 2 p.m. tomorrow and the SSC-FEU game on Tuesday.