Lady Eagles, Stags dispute V-League lead

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo and San Sebastian clash today for the lead in a duel of fancied teams even as Air Force shoots for another win against winless Perpetual Help in the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan.

The Lady Eagles and the Stags are coming off contrasting stints when they slug it out in the 4 p.m. main game with the former absorbing a stinging 21-25, 24-26, 25-20, 31-29 setback to a resurgent Air Force side last Sunday that snapped a two-game win run.

The Lady Stags, on the other hand, toppled the Altas with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-13 victory, tying the first conference champion Eagles at 2-1 behind Army’s 2-0 card.

But odds are just about even between the league’s top regular member-schools with one anchoring its campaign on its mainstays and the other on a slew of guest players and former stalwarts.

Alyssa Valdez, Fille Cainglet, Angeline Gervacio, Gretchen Ho and Jamenea Ferrer, who steered the Eagles past the Adamson Lady Falcons to the first conference crown of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza, try to bounce back from that loss to Air Force and regain the lead from Army.

Cainglet and Valdez show the scoring parade in the early going of the tournament with norms of 19 and 18 hits, respectively, making them the players to defend against by the Lady Stags.

Ateneo is likewise the league’s top receiving team with 20 percent efficiency with SSC in third with 18.86 percent.

SSC, on the other hand, has the leading spiker in its fold with American guest player Lauren Ford turning in a 50.63 accuracy (40 of 70) and third in scoring with a 15-point average.

The Lady Stags also boast of Thai import Jang Baulee and former stars Mary Jane Pepito and Jill Gustilo, mainstays Joy Benito and Dafna Robi-os and other guest players Janette Doria and Rubie de Leon.

Air Force, meanwhile, is fancied to get past Perpetual Help in the 2 p.m. opener with the former finally getting into the groove with former MVPs Aiza Maizo and Cherry Macatangay on the firing end.

But the Altas are expected to go all out to finally nail the elusive win and stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth in the league backed by Accel, Mikasa and Maynilad Water.

Games are aired on a delayed basis on NBN-4 starting at 2 p.m. and on GMA-7’s international channels GMA Pinoy TV, GMA LifeTV and GMA News TV, according to the organizing Sports Vision.