SWU to debut in Shakey's volley

MANILA, Philippines - Cebu champion Southwestern University brings its act to the Big City as it competes in the seventh Shakey’s V-League unfolding next month, confident of creating an impact on its debut in the country’s premier women’s volley league at The Arena in San Juan.

In fact, the reigning CESAFI (Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation, Inc.) champions have enlisted a Thai player in Piyatada Lasungnern to ensure its competitiveness in the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and which features the country’s top varsity teams from the UAAP and NCAA leagues.

Lasungnern, a mainstay of Thailand’s national team, saw action in the Asian Youth Girls Volleyball Tournament and the World Youth Volleyball Championships and is expected to bolster SWU’s title bid against an equally-talented field.

That includes University of Santo Tomas, easily the team to beat this year after the Tigresses swept the twin titles last season, perennial NCAA champion San Sebastian and UAAP stalwarts Far Eastern U, Ateneo and Adamson.

Also seeing action in the tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel, Mikasa and NBN-4, are St. Benilde and Lyceum and provincial teams University of St. La Salle-Bacolod and former three-time CESAFI champion Univ. of San Jose-Recoletos.

But focus will be on SWU, which finished runner-up in the recent CHED National Games and boasts of power-hitters Danika Yolanda Gendrauli and Rafril Aguilar and another guest player.

“The team’s strength is on floor defense and service,” said SWU athletic director Ryan Aznar. “And having a guest player and a Thai import will be a big boost in our offense too.”

 He, however, admitted that being a first-timer in the league, the SWU spikers face an uphill battle and need to make a lot of adjustments against the best teams in the land.

“I believe we have the materials to fill mix it up with these teams. But we also want to have our players gain experience and confidence in playing in the V-League,” said Aznar.

Under the format, the 10 teams will be divided into two groups and play a one-round robin elims with the top four squads from each group advancing to the quarterfinals. The Last 8 will again be grouped into two and play a single round with the top two teams in each group clashing in a pair of crossover semis. Winners will then clash for the crown in another best-of-three affair.

Playdates are set on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays starting at 2 p.m. Games will be shown on a delayed basis the following playdate on NBN4 although matches can be viewed live on webcast at www.v-league.ph.