Cagayan Valley grounds Air Force, advances to semis via superior quotient; Army gains top seed

QUARTERFINALS TEAM STANDINGS:

(1) Philippine Army 7-3*

(2) PLDT Home Telpad 6-4*

(3) Cagayan Valley 5-5**

Ateneo de Manila University 5-5***

Philippine Air Force 5-5***

National University 2-8†

*Semifinalist

**Advances to semis to due superior quotient

***Will battle in playoff for last semis berth

†Eliminated

KNOCKOUT GAME ON TUESDAY (August 19th at The Arena, San Juan City)

4:00PM – Ateneo de Manila University vs. Philippine Air Force

THE ARENA, San Juan City—The defending champions Cagayan Valley Rising Suns finally broke out of a four game funk and kept their title hopes alive with a resounding 28-26, 25-20, 25-20 walloping of the Philippine Air Force to gain an outright entry into the Final Four while the Philippine Army Lady Troopers overcame a sluggish start to trounce PLDT Home Telpad 15-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-15 to emerge as the number one seed in the semifinals in the final quarterfinal double-header of the Shakey’s V-League Open here.

With the Rising Suns’ emphatic triumph, their victims must now fight for survival against the resurgent Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles in a sudden death tiff on Tuesday (August 19th) to formalize the semis cast.

Cagayan Valley dropped its first four matches in the single-round carryover quarterfinals after finishing in a three-way tie for first place after the elimination round and needed to attain a convincing win over PAF to avoid quotient complications—and a playoff against the dangerous Lady Eagles.

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They couldn’t have taken a closer route as their victory against the Air Spikers tied idle Ateneo not only in the team standings (5-5) but also in points (15 apiece) and had them just nosing ahead in Sets Ratio at 1.056; just a shade higher than that of the idle Lady Eagles at 1.000. Had the Rising Suns dropped that tightly contested first set, league organizers would have had to revert to the Points Ratio—which still could have favored Ateneo advancing outright. The final tally still had Cagayan Valley topping the Lady Eagles in that department, 1.010 to 0.966.

Needless to say, it was the season-saving result Rising Suns Head Coach Nes Pamilar needed to realign with their meager goal of recapturing the crown they first won last season.

“Hindi ko nga maintindihan kung bakit nagkaraon ng apat na sunod na talo eh,” the 47-year-old former national team mentor told me prior to the match. “Wala naman daw problema sa isa’t isa, pero ang bibigat ng kilos.”

That was far from the way his charges played against the Air Spikers in this match, however, as newest acquisition Janine Marciano (formerly of the Philippine Nartional Police) came firing out of the gates enabling the Rising Suns to erect an early 10-3 lead in the opening set. A series of errors and the re-entry from injury of 22-year-old former national team campaigner Iya Yongco energized a spirited rally by PAF and even had set point at 26-25 before veteran Aiza Maizo-Pontillas punctuated a late 3-0 run with her patented quick attack as Cagayan Valley survived another debacle.

They never looked back from that point as the Air Spikers always found themselves having to come from behind as their usually consistent floor defense left a lot to be desired.

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Marciano led the Rising Suns in scoring with a game-high seventeen markers while Maizo-Pontillas chipped-in thirteen. Former San Sebastian skipper Joy Benito played her best game of the season for Cagayan Valley by garnering nine points on crucial kills at crucial moments of PAF’s attempts at a rally. The most memorable scene was when she blocked a Judy Caballejo spike and stared down at the Air Spikers’ scoring leader with her hands on her waist as if to gloat about the successful denial. That got a big howl from the Cagayan Valley faithful.

Caballejo and former college teammate Maika Ortiz scored fifteen points each in the loss and now must brace themselves for Ateneo in what could be their final match of the season. Both teams are tied in their season showdown at 1-1—both matches going the full route of five sets; the only head-to-head affair that had gone to the decider this season.

In the final quarterfinal clash, league-leading Philippine Army fought off one of their ugliest starts of the season en route to the four-set conquest of the Turbo Boosters.

National team stalwarts Mary Jean Balse and Rachel Anne Daquis collected themselves in the second set and proceeded to bomb away at the PLDT defenses—who were without starting quicker Charo Soriano for the match due to personal reasons.

If there was a silver lining for the Turbo Boosters, it was the rebirth of 22-year-old former University of St. La Salle pagoda Royce Estampa (formerly surnamed Quijano) as the 6’1” Bacolod lass notched ten points and somehow blended seamlessly with the offense as playmaker Rubie de Leon sent her usual passes to former teammate Din-Din Santiago to Estampa for almost effortless put-aways.

The win by the Lady Troopers gave them the best record (7-3) and must now await the result of the Ateneo-Air Force knockout match to learn the identity of their semis opponent. The semis will be a Best-Of-Three crossover affair. PLDT and Cagayan Valley will dispute the other series between the second and third seeds.

So it all comes down to one match on Tuesday to determine the fates of both the Lady Eagles and the Air Spikers. Both squads admit to being tired; Ateneo having minimal breaks since winning its first ever UAAP title last March and PAF—whose core also saw action in the recently concluded Philippine Super Liga finale with RC Cola—must now dig deep anew.

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Ateneo will have the definite crowd support, but the experience edge still belongs to PAF.

It seems like a coinflip, except for the fact that the Lady Eagles come into the KO tiff winning its last five matches while Air Force is coming off a loss. The Air Spikers, however, have always come back stronger after coming from a setback, so again, it’s a virtual coinflip.

I will be doing that match alongside Noreen Go. I also believe those who work and study in Quezon City have the day off on Tuesday. Better get those tickets early. Game time is at 4:00PM.

So who do you have? Ateneo or Air Force? Something tells me this could be another five-set classic in the making… #ItsForTheFans

BOXSCORES:

Cagayan Valley def. Philippine Air Force – 28-26, 25-20, 25-20

Cagayan Valley—Marciano 17, Maizo-Pontillas 13, Benito 9, P. Soriano 6, Sy 4, Vargas 4, Eulalio 3, Tabaquero 1, Pineda (L) 0, Saet 0.

PAF—Caballejo 15, Ortiz 15, Cases 6, Tapic 6, Yongco 3, Manzano 2, Dimaculangan 1, Pantino 1, Semana 1, Balmaceda (L) 0, Gustilo (L) 0.

Philippine Army def. PLDT Home Telpad – 15-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-15

Army—Balse 13, Daquis 13, Bautista 10, Gonzaga 10, Bunag 8, Salak 7, Sabas 2, Agno (L) 0, Gonzales 0, Siatan-Torres 0, Cruz 0.

PLDT—Soltones 16, Estampa 10, Roces 10, Devanadera 9, Latigay 6, Benting 5, R. de Leon 4, Patilano 1, Gata-Pantone (L) 0, Eroa (L) 0.

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com