Troopers shoot down Eagles, near finals

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Army clipped Ateneo with its power game, fashioning out a 25-10, 25-21, 25-19 victory to move a win away from reaching the finals of the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

The Lady Troopers stamped their class in the first set then thwarted the Lady Eagles’ gritty stand in the next two to complete the romp in the opener of their best-of-three semifinal match-up.

San Sebastian also annexed a straight-set victory over Navy, snatching a big win in the second set to complete a 25-20, 34-32, 25-22 triumph in their own side of the semis duel in the season-ending conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

American Lauren Ford fired 20 kills and took over for SSC late in the third, unleashing four points as the Lady Stags held off the Lady Sailors, who threatened last at 22-24 before yielding the one-hour, 24-minute match on an error.

Rubie de Leon also kept the team together throughout the 66-minute encounter, finishing with 56 excellent sets, putting to naught Navy’s Janet Serafica’s 63, while scoring eight points, including five kills.

Suzanne Roces matched Ford’s 20-hit output but no other player scored in double-figures for Navy, which lost its momentum in an action-packed second set duel.

Thai reinforcement Jang Baulee scored 18 pints while Joy Benito also had eight hits and Jennifer Manzano added six points for SSC.

Army and SSC go for the clinchers on Thursday.

Earlier, the top military team unleashed 48 spikes, nearly doubling Ateneo’s output of 26, as it extended its domination of the first conference champion, which it beat in four twice in the elims and the quarters.

Rachel Ann Daquis emerged the top scorer for Army, which boasts of a number of hitters, as she connected 14 of 32 spikes to preside the team’s attack.

Her last spike cut short Ateneo’s rally and ended the 64-minute romp in the first of two Final Four matches in the league organized by Sports Vision.

Michelle Carolino had eight kills while Mary Jean Balse scored 12 hits, including three blocks. 

Marietta Carolino added 10 points, including two services aces, while setter Cristina Salak chipped seven hits while finishing with 40 excellent sets.

Jamenea Ferrer actually bested Salak’s effort with her own 45 excellent sets but the Lady Eagles struggled in offense with Fille Cainglet, the league’s second leading scorer with a 16.8-point norm, held to just four hits.

Alyssa Valdez came through with nine attacks and ended up with 10 points for Ateneo’s lone double-digit output as Dzi Gervacio and Gretchen Ho managed to score seven and six points, respectively.

The Army-Ateneo match will be telecast at 2 p.m. today (Monday) while the SSC-Navy duel will be aired Tuesday on NBN-4 and GMA-7’s international channels GMA Pinoy TV, GMA LifeTV and GMA News TV.

Army hopes to further toughen up as goes for a sweep and the first finals berth in the season-ending conference of the league backed by Accel, Mikasa and Maynilad Water.