Lady Troopers smother Bulldogs, share Shakey’s V-L lead

MANILA, Philippines - Army relied on its fearsome foursome again and came away with another straight-set victory, this time over National U, 25-19, 25-22, 25-22, to tie idle PLDT Home Telpad in the lead in the Shakey’s V-League Season II Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Nene Bautista fired 15 hits, Rachel Ann Daquis unloaded 12 points and Jovelyn Gonzaga and Mary Jane Balse backed them up with 11 and 10 markers, respectively, as the Season 8 champions rolled to their third straight win to prime up for their keenly-awaited showdown with the Turbo Boosters next week.

Meanwhile, the league, sponsored by Shakey’s and backed by Mikasa and Accel, will take a break Sunday and will resume Tuesday with PLDT Home Telpad clashing with Philippine National Police and Cagayan Valley tangling with National U.

The Army-NU duel and the Ateneo-Air Force clash will be shown on GMA News TV Channel starting at 1 p.m. today, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

The Air Force Raiders bucked Alyssa Valdez’s tournament-best 32-hit output as they stopped the Lady Eagles in a thrilling five-setter, 22-25, 25-13, 25-13, 23-25, 17-15, to improve to 3-1.

Maika Ortiz teamed up with Joy Cases to produce 32 hits while Judy Caballejo and Iari Yongco chipped in 12 and 11 points, respectively, for the Raiders, who failed to finish off the Lady Eagles in the fourth set with a wavering windup.

But they held on in a tightly-fought, extended decider to stay just behind PLDT Home Telpad and Army. The loss was the second straight against a win for Ateneo, which also drew 14 markers from Michelle Morente and a combined 14-point effort from Amy Ahomiro and Miren Gequillana.

The Lady Troopers actually let Jaja Santiago display her power-hitting skills that produced 18 points for the Lady Bulldogs but held the other NU spikers to single-digit outputs to complete the 74-minute victory.

Myla Pablo, who scored 14 hits in their sweep of UP last June 29, struggled for eight, Desiree Dadang had six markers and Jorelle Singh, Marites Pablo, Rizza Mandapat and Ivy Perez combined for just 10 points for the Lady Bulldogs, who also appeared to have groped for form following a long layoff in the league where it all started.