Ateneo-NU duel kicks off V-League quarterfinal

Games Thursday

2 p.m. – Adamson vs San Sebastian

4 p.m. – Arellano vs Ateneo

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo and National University, which dominated their respective groups in the elims, brace for an explosive showdown in Group I as action in the Shakey’s V-League Season 10 heats up starting Sunday with the quarterfinal round at The Arena in San Juan City.

As the No. 1 teams after the single round elims, the Lady Eagles and the Bulldogs find themselves grouped in one side along with the No. 3 squads (Arellano and La Salle-Dasmariñas) with the Nos. 2 and 4 teams (UST, Adamson, San Sebastian and Perpetual) making up the other group.

The Last 8 is a compact four-playdate phase with the top two in each side advancing to the crossover best-of-three semis of the First Conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

Ateneo, NU, UST and Adamson will carry similar 1-0 marks into the quarters owing to their victories over their respective groupmates in the elims.

Adamson and back-to-back defending champion Ateneo will try to move to the semis first when they take on separate rivals on Thursday. The Lady Falcons play the embattled Lady Stags at 2 p.m. while the Lady Eagles square off with the Lady Chiefs at 4 p.m.

The Arellano match also serves as Ateneo’s tune-up for its keenly awaited duel with National on May 5 with odds just about even between the league’s top squads.

Meanwhile, SSC’s import Jeng Bualee emerged as the league’s top scorer after the elims with a 105-hit clip, including 95 spikes and five service aces, storming past erstwhile leader Dindin Santiago of NU, who ended up with 95 points, highlighted by 72 kills.