DGO tossers gain Shakey’s Girls’ Volleyball League semis

MANILA, Philippines - Don Gerardo Llamera Ouano National High School (DGO) racked up three straight victories to clinch the first semifinal berth in Pool A while Southwestern U (SWU) paced Pool B with two wins in the Central Visayas leg of the Shakey’s Girls’ Volleyball League Season 13 at the Cebu City Sports Institute in Cebu City over the weekend.

DGO blasted University of Cebu (UCB), 25-14, 25-14; trounced Paref Southcrest School (PSS), 25-14, 25-19; and trounced St. Theresa’s College (STC), 25-12, 25-18, to book the first semis slot in the two-division tournament serving as the third of nine regional elims leading to the national finals in October.

University of San Carlos (USC) zeroed in on the other semis seat with back-to-back victories, thumping STC, 25-10, 25-12; and edging Pajo National HS (PHS), 25-16, 24-26, 26-24; while PHS and UCB had a 1-1 card apiece and PSS and STC had 0-2 and 0-3 cards, respectively, in Pool A.

SWU, on the other hand, outlasted University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ), 25-14, 20-25, 25-14, and thwarted Univ. of Southern Philippines Foundation (USP), 25-20, 25-18, to lead Pool B of the event, the country’s premier league put up by Shakey’s for the leading private and public school girls’ volley teams.

In joint second with 1-1 slates are USJ, which clobbered Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu (ADC), 25-10, 25-14; and ADC, which foiled Sacred Heart School-Hijas de Jesus (HDJ), 25-17, 25-16, while USP and HDJ had 0-1 cards each and would need to pile up victories to advance to the crossover semis of the league that has produced the current cream of the crop, headed by Alyssa Valdez, Ara Galang, Mika Reyes, Kim Fajardo, Abby Maraño, Dindin Santiago-Manabat, Ennajie Laure and Jovelyn Gonzaga.

Meanwhile, fierce action is seen when the National Capital Region elims is held beginning Aug. 22 with the top high school teams in the Big City fight for berths in the finals of the event dubbed as the breeding ground of tomorrow’s volleyball luminaries and backed by Asics, Mikasa, People’s Television, Philippine Volleyball Foundation, Iloilo Doctors’ College and My Phone.

“The past 12 seasons, the league has brought forth the development of volleyball into a more competitive level thereby inspiring more and more players to step up and improve their skills,” said Freddie Infante of the organizing Metro Sports. “With some innovations, this year’s staging will surely raise the level of competition.”

For details, visit www.facebook.com/shakeysgirlsvleague.

To accommodate as many teams as possible and select the best teams from among the crop, organizers have put up three regional elims featuring three legs each with the Northern Mindanao and Central Visayas winding up their qualifiers the last three weeks.

After the NCR elims, the Northern Mindanao leg will be held  Aug. 28-31 in Cagayan de Oro to be followed by the Eastern Visayas elims on Sept. 3-6 in Tacloban City; Northern Luzon on Sept. 8-11 in Angeles City; Southern Mindanao on Sept. 14-18 in Tagum City; and Southern Luzon on Sept. 23-26 in Biñan City.