Sandugo, Cagayan try to seal title clash

MANILA,Philippines - Sandugo-San Sebastian and Cagayan Valley-Perpetual Help hope to flash the form that netted them a pair of straight-set victories over their respective Final Four rivals as they go for a sweep today and a showdown for the Shakey’s V-League Open crown at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

The Rising Suns pulled off a surprise 25-20, 25-15, 25-20 victory over the Army Troopers, unleashing their power game and tough net defense to beat the defending champions at the start of their best-of-three series in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

The top seeded Lady Stags, meanwhile, played true to form and blasted the Ateneo Lady Eagles, 25-13, 25-20, 25-9, late Wednesday as league’s scoring leader Jeng Bualee uncorked an 18-hit game and fellow Thai reinforcement Utaiwan Kaensing added 11 markers.

Former MVP Nene Bautista also shone for Sandugo in their side of the semis, banging away 11 kills as the Lady Stags overpowered the first conference champions, 47-20, in spikes from 26 excellent sets against their rivals’ 18.

The semis pairings switch times today with Sandugo and Ateneo mixing it up in the 4 p.m. opener and Cagayan and Army facing off at 6 p.m. with the fired-up Lady Stags and Rising Suns out to score a repeat and seal a title clash in the league backed by Mikasa and Accel.

“We hope to win again on Friday (today) but we have to keep our form or try to raise the level of our game,” said Cagayan Valley coach Mike Rafael in Filipino. “It would be nice to get into the finals.”

Meanwhile, Game One of the semis will be aired on AKTV on Sept. 18 starting at 7 p.m. with Game Two to be telecast on Sept. 19 at 5 p.m., according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Rafael has been drawing solid games from Thais Kunbang Pornpimol and Sutadta Chuewulim while local aces Sandra delos Santos, Honey Tubino and the steady Joy Cases continue to provide the hits and spunk especially during crunchtime.

But the Troopers are expected to bounce back strong from a mediocre outing and force a sudden death although coach Rico de Guzman will have to motivate his stars more after Rachel Ann Daquis, Jacqueline Alarca, Joanne Bunag, Michelle Carolino and skipper Cristina Salak were held to no higher than eight points the first time out.

Like Army, Ateneo will need major adjustments to neutralize Sandugo’s awesome power with Fille Cainglet and Gretchen Ho expected to be back after missing Game One and provide firepower in partnership with Alyssa Valdez, Dzi Gervacio and Marge Tejada.