RC Cola eyes solo lead vs Cagayan

MANILA, Philippines - RC Cola-Air Force shoots for its third straight win and the solo lead against a struggling Cagayan Valley side in women’s play today even as contenders PLDT-Air Force and Cignal duel for the solo lead in the men’s side of the PLDT Home DSL-Philippine Superliga (PSL) All-Filipino Conference volleyball tournament at the Cuneta Astrodome.

RC Cola-Air Force, which turned in a winless campaign in the last conference, made quite a stir in the early going of the tournament when it swept its first two games over fancied rivals.

In their victory over PLDT Home TVolution, the Women Raiders dominated the Lady Power Attackers with their booming kills and tough net defense while coming up with superb reception all throughout the match.

“We wanted to make sure that we’re coming into a game prepared,” said RC Cola-Air Force coach Clarence Esteban, who is expected to lean on Judy Ann Caballejo, Maika Ortiz, Joy Cases and Rhea Dimaculangan anew in their quest for a third straight win.

“Cagayan is such a veteran team. They’ve been in this situation before. They’ve been playing together for quite some time not only here, but in other leagues as well. It will be a very interesting game. We will prepare hard for this match,” added Esteban.

Generika-Army and Cignal collide in a duel of winless squads at 4 p.m.

But focus will be on the clash between unbeaten teams PLDT-Air Force and Cignal.

After pulling off a pair of lopsided victories, the Power Attackers and HD Spikers face off at 6 p.m., each hoping to stretch each other’s win run in the premiere club tournament supported by PLDT Home DSL and backed by Mikasa, Asics, Mueller Tapes, Jinling Sports Equipment, LGR, Bench and Healthway Medical and organized by Sports Core with Solar Sports as broadcast partner.

The Power Attackers are tipped to go all out for a win that will install them on top of the team standings.

Cignal, however, is no pushover as it has the ability to easily crush its foes’ stonewall defense, thanks to the hard-hitting duo of Howard Mojica and Gilbert Ablan who conspired for a total of 48 points in their 25-19, 25-19, 28-30, 25-22 win over Via Mare recently.

“These guys can erupt at any given time,” said PLDT-Air Force coach Jasper Jimenez. “So we have to find a way to stop them. We just can’t afford to match their attacks but we have to come up with a good defense to limit their hitters.”

Tasked to carry the cudgels for Jimenez are veteran setters Ian Fernandez and Jessie Lopez along with spikers JP Torres, Jeffrey Malabanan and Ran Abdilla, who nailed 16 points in their 25-20, 25-20, 25-20 win over Instituto Estetico Manila over the weekend.