Ateneo, NU out to boost V-League bid vs UP, PNP

MANILA, Philippines - National U and Ateneo seek to bounce back from back-to-back setbacks as they take on winless Philippine National Police and Univ. of the Philippines, respectively, in the Shakey’s V-League Season II Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan today.

The Lady Bulldogs, reeling from 0-3 losses to the Army Lady Troopers and Cagayan Valley Rising Suns last week, hope to pour it all out against the Lady Patrollers at 2 p.m. and get back on track at 2-2.

The Lady Eagles also target to even their mark in four games in their 4 p.m. clash with the UP Lady Maroons as they try to recover from a straight-set setback to the PLDT Home Telpad side and a sorry five-set defeat to the Air Force Raiders that dampened their quarterfinal chances.

But PNP and UP will also be going all-out for the elusive wins in their attempt to revive their respective quarterfinal bids in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

The top six in the eight-team field will advance to the quarters after the single round elims with the top four, after another one round affair, making it to the Final Four, a pair of best-of-three series.

Today’s matches can be viewed live on streaming on www.v-league.ph <http://www.v-league.ph/>  with the PNP-NU clash to be shown on a delayed basis on GMA News TV Channel tomorrow (Monday) and the Ateneo-UP face-off to be aired Tuesday, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Jaja Santiago and Myla Pablo are expected to lead NU’s charge against PNP, bannered by the league’s No. 2 scorer Frances Molina, who normed 14 hits after four matches, and Jade Maderazo.

Scoring leader Alyssa Valdez, who turned in an average of 23 points in three games, is raring to showcase her power-hitting ways again but hopes to draw solid support from Amy Ahomiro, Michelle Morente, Miren Gequillana and Julia Morado as the reigning UAAP champions try to get back on the winning track.