SSC eyes quarters; Visayan teams strut wares

MANILA, Philippines - San Sebastian tries to formalize its stint in the quarterfinal round as it faces a debuting University of St. La Salle side today even as Southwestern U opens its bid against Far Eastern U in the ninth Shakey’s V-League presented by Smart at The Arena in San Juan.

The Lady Stags rolled past the Adamson Lady Falcons in four then swept the Letran spikers to share the Group B lead with the comebacking UST Tigreses, who also beat the Lady Knights in three last Sunday.

But SSC is expected to have its hands full against USLS, out to improve its impressive third place effort last year, the Bacolod-based squad’s best finish in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

Bannered by guest players Jovelyn Gonzaga and Rebbie Delotindo, the USLS spikers hope to surprise the Lady Stags in their 4 p.m. duel with Patty Orendain, Cha-Cha Moralde, Beauty Denila, Baby Abaño expected to provide help.

But the Lady Stingers will need to work doubly hard to stop the Stags, headed by the league’s current leading scorer Jang Baulee.

The Thai ace had dished out a total of 53 spikes in two games although she stood in fifth with a 38.06 percent clip in spiking order paced by Perpetual Help’s Sandra delos Santos, who had an impressive 47.22 percent norm.

The SWU Lady Cobras, on the other hand, hope to draw the best from guest players Nica Gulliman and Genie Sabas as they take on the Lady Tams in the 2 p.m. opener. FEU is also trying to bounce back from a setback to defending champion Ateneo and stay in the hunt for a quarters berth in Group A of the tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

For results, updates and live streaming of the games, log on to www.v-league.ph.

Bannering FEU’s bid are Rosemarie Vargas, Wenneth Eulalio, Marie Basas, Mary Baniel and guest player Eve Sanorseang.

The top four teams in each group after the single round elims will advance to the quarters, another one round affair although the matches played by the teams in the elims will no longer be played but the results will be carried over. The top four will clash in the crossover semis with the No. 1 team colliding with the No. 4 squad and the Nos. 2 and 3 teams disputing the other finals berths in separate best-of-three series. The finals is also a best-of-three affair.