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Shakey’s V-League Open q’finals: PNP, Meralco ousted

QUARTERFINALS TEAM STANDINGS

Cagayan Valley—9-0*

Philippine Army—7-1*

Smart-Maynilad—4-4*

Philippine Air Force—4-5*

Meralco—1-7

Philippine National Police—0-8


*Assured of semifinals berth, placings to be determined


QUARTERFINAL GAMES ON FRIDAY (October 4 at The Arena, San Juan City)

2:00PM PNP vs. Meralco

4:00PM Smart-Maynilad vs. Army


THE ARENA, San Juan City—League-leading Cagayan Valley and the Philippine Air Force took turns in disposing of their foes as the Philippine National Police (PNP) and Meralco bow out of contention for a semifinals slot in the ongoing quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference here.

The victories by the Rising Suns over the Lady Patrolers and the Airwomen over the Power Spikers assured idle Smart-Maynilad of entry into the Final Four which commences on Tuesday, October 8th. The only thing that has yet to be resolved is the final positioning of the remaining squads for the championship.

In the curtain-raiser, Cagayan Valley bucked the absence of skipper Angge Tabaquero and starting center Pau Soriano to prevail 25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21 against the Lady Patrolers that never gave up on the match. Tabaquero was in uniform but Rising Suns Head Coach Nes Pamilar opted to bench the wily outside hitter to rest her ailing shoulder and be ready for their final encounter on Sunday (October 6th) against Army. Soriano was out of commission due to some final school requirements and did not arrive at the venue. In fact, Cagayan Valley was also forced to sit scoring leader Kannika Thipachot due to dizziness as the 20-year-old from Bangkok had still not fully recovered from a bout with dehydration and was coming off a harrowing performance against Smart-Maynilad—a match that went five-sets. Also among the injured from the Rising Suns were open-spiker Rosemarie Vargas (knee) and Leuseht Dawis (knee). So in essence, Cagayan Valley only had a compliment of ten players on their roster, all of whom saw action.

Pamilar needed all the help he could get as PNP threw everything at them with the Lady Patrolers offensive triumvirate in Frances Molina, Janine Marciano and Thai import Patcharee Sangmuang firing from all angles. PNP veterans Michelle Datuin and Kristine Dave also gave a yeoman’s effort on the defensive end as the duo combined for seven block points. Sporadic errors from the Rising Suns also fuelled the onslaught by the Lady Patrolers as Cagayan Valley committed a season-high 31 miscues in the match.

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The brilliance of libero Jheck Dionela and the timely blocks from moonlighting starter Sandra de los Santos, however, was enough to help old gun Aiza Maizo-Pontillas come away with the attacks necessary to give the Rising Suns their nine consecutive win in the quarterfinals and eleventh overall.

PNP needed to win the match to somehow prolong their hunt for a miracle as many factors were needed for them to advance. Lady Patrolers Head Coach Bob Malenab was still happy with the results he hastily formed team attained in their maiden season in the country’s premier women’s volleyball league.

“It’s been a great experience,” Malenab, a former FEU Tamaraw said, in the vernacular, after the game that eliminated his squad. “We aren’t far in terms of the talent level in the league and a few tweaks here and there will make us competitive in the future.”

Maizo-Pontillas led all scorers with 24 points while de los Santos chipped-in twelve markers (including four block points) and reserve spiker Joy Benito came away with ten. Sangmuang finished with a team-high seventeen, backstopped by Molina’s fourteen and Marciano’s eleven.

In the main event, the Power Spikers carried their destiny in their hands as a win would seriously endanger Air Force’s hold on fourth place. Both squads came into the contest with long losing streaks with Meralco’s skid at five in a row while the Airwomen had dropped all their quarterfinal matches for a three game slide.

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The Power Spikers started hot with attacks from Chinese import Coco Wang and superior net defense by former league MVP Maureen Penetrante-Ouano. Air Force was playing catch-up all the way during the first set and even fell behind by as much as eight points (16-8). The Airwomen just couldn’t generate any form of offense as their reception was in shambles as Meralco easily took the first set 25-19.

It just took a few adjustments from Airwomen Head Coach Clarence Esteban to jumpstart the offense in the second as league-leading scorer Judy Caballejo—coming off a career-high 29 points in the loss to Army the match previous—began detonating left and right. Journeywoman Joy Cases also joined the fray and the running attacks of center Maika Ortiz became too hot to handle, even by the taller Power Spikers. Meralco could not sustain any semblance of momentum, despite impeccable floor defense by libero Jen Reyes and multi-talented Fille Cainglet.

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Star setter Rhea Dimaculangan dictated the pace well for her attackers and when the smoke cleared, PAF had triumphed 19-25, 25-20, 25-14, 25-22. The loss by the Power Spikers (1-7) meant that there was no way they could force a playoff with only two matches remaining and the win by Air Force put them a mere half a game behind the idle Net Spikers.

Meralco locks horns with PNP on Friday to determine which losing streak will be snapped, while Smart-Maynilad goes for the outright third seed position as they try to stop a rampaging Lady Troopers squad. The final triple-header on Sunday will officially conclude hostilities in the quarters and all final placings for the semis will be known.

Moving forward, talks of acquisitions by the teams that have qualified for the Final Four have been prevalent in various social networking sites. Rumors abound that Smart-Maynilad is looking to snare Wang from its sister team and that Air Force is also looking into the possibility of adding their own foreign player. The veracity of these allegations will be known before the semis, but for now we get ready for the penultimate showdowns on Friday.

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The first match will be a championship of sorts between the two eliminated teams while the second match has the makings of another long one—much like their first meeting. I wouldn’t want to miss that, and I’m quite certain neither would you.

BOXSCORES:

Cagayan Valley (9-0) def. PNP (0-8)—25-20, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21

CV—Maizo-Pontillas 24, de los Santos 12, Benito 10, Pineda 8, Eulalio 7, Thipachot 7, Soraya 5, Dionela (L) 0, Puylong 0, Saet 0.

PNP—Sangmuang 17, Molina 14, Marciano 11, Datuin 8, Dave 5, Concepcion 1, Tadeo (L) 0, Castro (L) 0, Remigio 0, Mia 0.

Philippine Air Force (4-5) def. Meralco (1-7)

PAF—Caballejo 21, Cases 17, Ortiz 11, Semana 10, de Ramos 7, Dimaculangan 7, Pantino 2, Abanto (L) 0, Legaspi 0.

MER—Wang 20, Penetrante-Ouano 16, Mercado 11, Morada 7, Cainglet 6, Jose 2, Reyes (L) 0, Quemada 0, Legaspi-de Guzman 0.

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