PNP grabs 1st win to stay alive, Air Force wins 5th straight in Shakey’s V-League Open
TEAM STANDINGS
Cagayan Valley—7-0*
Philippine Army—5-1*
Philippine Air Force—5-2*
Smart-Maynilad—4-3*
Meralco—3-4*
Philippine National Police—1-5
Philippine Navy—1-5
Far Eastern University—0-6
*Qualified for quarterfinals
GAMES ON TUESDAY (September 20 at The Arena, San Juan City)
2:00PM FEU vs. Army
4:00PM Navy vs. PNP
THE ARENA, San Juan City—Former Thai national team captain Patcharee Sangmuang unloaded a season-high 23 points and San Beda ace Janine Marciano added 21 as the Philippine National Police (PNP) Lady Patrolers finally notched its first win in six matches while red-hot Philippine Air Force needed to go the full route against the Meralco Power Spikers to attain its fifth win straight win in the penultimate double-header of the ongoing preliminary round of the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference here.
Playing without celebrated middle-hitter Michelle Datuin—who is on loan to the Fibr-Philippines Power Pinays seeing action in the Asian Volleyball Confederation (AVC) Asian Senior Women’s Volleyball Championship in Nakhor Ratchasima, Thailand—the Lady Patrolers had to lean on their talented open-spikers to subdue the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws, 25-20, 25-14, 20-25, 25-19 to stay in the hunt for the last quarterfinals berth. Multifaceted Frances Molina contributed fourteen markers in a brilliant show of offensive force against the very young collegiate squad.
PNP now faces the Philippine Navy Lady Sailors on Friday (September 20th) with the victor claiming the sixth and final slot in the next round. The Loss put FEU out of the running with their upcoming tiff against the Philippine Army Lady Troopers—also on Friday—as a battle for pride for the girls from Morayta.
Sangmuang and Marciano toyed with the feeble defenses of the Lady Tamaraws who had to lean anew on the solid production of star center Remy Palma just to keep in pace with the Lady Patrolers’ onslaught. Palma scored a team-high nineteen points backstopped by a returning Bernadeth Pons with twelve.
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However, FEU did show a pulse after dropping the first two sets with hardly any fight. Their floor defenses began picking as decorated libero Tin Agno almost literally mopped the San Juan Arena floor with her jersey in keeping the Sangmuang-Marciano bombs from detonating. The Lady Tamaraws began receiving offensive help from reserves Samantha Dawson and a surprising Kyla Atienza, who each chipped-in five points during a crucial third set run to put a temporary halt to the Lady Patrolers’ domination.
PNP Head Coach Bob Malenab--a former FEU varsity member during his collegiate days--was so miffed at the fumbled opportunity to snatch the victory in straight sets that he vowed the fourth set would be the final one.
He was right.
Molina joined the fray and the setting of Davao City policewoman Veronica Concepcion was delivered like clockwork as PNP laid to rest any doubt which the better team was. The thing now is: can they replicate the triumph against a veteran Lady Sailors squad led by former national team standouts Mic-Mic Laborte, Mayi Prochina and playing coach Nene Ybañez-Chavez?
For now, they will take the win.
“It feels good to finally win,” Malenab said. “But now we have to advance on Friday.”
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PNP has its destiny in its hands, but so does Navy. That will be—to quote the late, great Joe Cantada—“a titanic struggle” you won’t want to miss.
In the second match, the Power Spikers looked to bounce back from a demoralizing straight sets defeat at the hands of the Lady Troopers last Sunday (September 15th) while the Airwomen were riding on a wave of confidence after dispatching its last four foes.
It went the distance.
Air Force’s leading scorer for the tournament Judy Caballejo unleashed a season-high 26 points in an almost possessed performance for the Airwomen; thanks to almost perfect setting all throughout the encounter by former University of Santo Tomas (UST) teammate Rhea Dimaculangan.
PAF Head Coach Clarence Esteban chose to utilize his two formidable setters at the same time on floor so his gambit involved starting firecracker Wendy Semana at the utility-spiker spot while “DMac” was employed as the full time setter. DMac went ballistic to the tune of 43 excellent sets—many of which headed Caballejo’s way—totally outclassing her former college rival April Jose of FEU, who could only execute 27 excellent sets.
Journeywoman Joy Cases contributed fourteen points, center Maika Ortiz had thirteen, while Semana flew high for her twelve markers in the Airwomen’s fifth successive triumph. Air Force has not dropped a contest since losing a straight-sets decision to the Philippine Army last August 25, and at the rate the team is gelling, other teams will be hard-pressed to break this streak.
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But the Airwomen needed to go all the way to a fifth set as Meralco’s Chinese import Coco Wang bounced back from a lackluster eleven point outing against the Lady Troopers last Sunday to a season-high 26 in the loss—the first time this season that the Power Spikers have lost in back-to-back contests. Fille Cainglet added thirteen while center Maureen Penetrante-Ouano and Maica Morada finished with twelve and eleven points, respectively.
The loss drops the Power Spikers to fifth place in the team standings wherein the prelims records will be carried over to the quarterfinals and only four teams get to advance to the crossover semifinals. Meralco will now have an uphill climb if it wants to enter the Final Four. As for PAF, it committed more errors (35-28) and were oftentimes scurrying on their floor defense. If not for the explosion from Caballejo, the outcome might have been very different.
This Friday, the preliminary round ends. The loss of FEU against PNP means that there is no more possibility of a playoff, even in the unlikely event that the Lady Tamaraws upset the 2011 titlists. The quarterfinals will commence immediately on Sunday with the league announcing its schedules very soon. For those concerned about Cagayan Valley having ten of its members in Thailand at present, I’m sure the league can schedule them for next Tuesday as the AVC tourney will be winding down over the weekend.
So will PNP have enough arsenal left to boot out the Lady Sailors, or will Navy use its tremendous seasoning to send the rookie franchise packing? Join Sev, Noreen and Miakka on Fridat at SJA to find out.
We now enter the next round.
BOXSCORES:
PNP (1-5) def. FEU (0-6)
PNP—Sangmuang 23, Marciano 21, Molina 14, Labrador 4, Dave 2, Concepcion 1, Tadeo (L) 0, Remigio 0.
FEU—Palma 19, Pons 12, Sy 5, Atienza 5, Dawson 5, Casugod 4, Malabanan 3, Bagang 2, Agno (L) 0, Simborio 0.
Air Force (5-2) def. Meralco (3-4)
PAF—Caballejo 26, Cases 14, Ortiz 13, Semana 12, de Ramos 4, Dimaculangan 2, Manzano 1, Legaspi (L) 0, Abanto 0, Pantino 0.
Meralco—Wang 26, Cainglet 13, Penetrante-Ouano 12, Morada 11, Mercado 6, Reyes (L) 1, Jose 0, Bello 0, Quemada 0, Remulla 0, de Guzman 0.
Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com
