Shakey’s V-League Week #1 Round-Up and Analysis

GAMES ON TUESDAY (April 1) at The Arena, San Juan City

2:00PM Southwestern vs. St. Benilde

4:00PM Perpetual vs. San Sebastian

Pardon me for not being able to write anything for the past week. The tail end of March has just been ridiculously packed and while I decided to reap the benefits of my hard work last Sunday, the Shakey’s V-League (SVL) decided to throw my alleged “curse” of being the five-set anchorman to my good buddy Sev Sarmenta. So while Sev worked two cardiac match-ups that went the distance, I was at S&R Mandaluyong buying hampers and shower curtains for my new home. That is a sick broadcaster’s irony.

In any event, we are a good eight matches into Season 11 and here’s how the team standings look this early in the new season:

Arellano University (AU) 2-0

National University (NU) 2-0

Far Eastern University (FEU) 1-0

Adamson University (AdU) 1-1

Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) 1-1

Southwestern University (SWU) 1-1

San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R) 0-1

University of Perpetual Help (UPHSD) 0-1

University of Santo Tomas (UST) 0-1

St. Louis University-Baguio (SLU) 0-2

College of St. Benilde (CSB) 0-0

Davao All-Stars (DAS) 0-0

While I’m not surprised to find the defending champion Lady Bulldogs atop the initial leaderboard, I’m pleasantly taken aback by the Lady Chiefs’ hot start—especially after they upset the UAAP queens Ateneo last Sunday in a five-set classic that must have shocked the local volleyball world.

Sure, there was that questionable non-call in the twilight of the decider where Arellano allegedly had only five players on the court—a violation and one that is subject to a yellow card—but the match showed the character of the NCAA finalists and proved to all that they are legit.

The match also showed either overconfidence on the part of the Lady Eagles or fatigue. Ivy Remulla and I pointed out the latter on opening day, and Ateneo needed a boost from the crowd just to get by Adamson. They had similar crowd support last Sunday, but the Lady Chiefs kept it together for their first win over the Katipuneras…ever (I believe).

UST also unveiled their surprise package against NU in the first game of that double-header when incoming freshman Ennajie Laure erupted for a game-high 23 markers—yes, against the Lady Bulldogs’ trees.

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I know Ennajie’s father very well. Eddie Laure is a former league MVP in the now defunct Metropolitan Basketball Association (MBA) and was lottery pick in the PBA not too long ago. He is still under contract with the Alaska Aces and we were exchanging barbs about being old a few days ago as he was counting the days wherein his daughter would grab the proverbial torch from him as the family’s standard bearer in sports.

Eddie must be ecstatic for Ennajie’s debut, and I’m quite certain the Tigresses’ faithful are also grinning ear to ear with the prospect of what the seventeen year old wunderkind can provide in the upcoming UAAP season. But why wait for the Season 77 to shine?

Despite the five-set heartbreak, I believe UST has the tools to make it all the way to the semifinals this conference in the SVL.

Marivic Meneses has the swag of Ging Balse and the dynamic duo of Mela Tunay and Pam Lastimosa are showing shades of the Caballejo-Banaticla combo. Having Rhea Dimaculangan in the UST fold—at least for now—augers well for the young Tigresses. She’s always been a good teacher to Loren Lantin and it won’t be long before the reigning skipper inherits most, if not all of DMac's skills.

Another team that has impressed—despite playing only one match so far—is FEU.

They really took it to San Sebastian in their debut and while the Lady Stags did lose prime weapon Gretchel Soltones to a horrible inverted ankle sprain that may sideline her substantially, the Lady Tamaraws had no second thoughts of railroading their foes.

Bernadeth Pons is emerging as a force.

She reminds me of a young Angge Tabaquero who is just happy to be doing her thing on the floor and it infects her teammates in a very positive way. Remember that FEU will not be playing with veteran setter Gyzelle Sy for the entire conference (due to personal reasons) and it will be on Pons to make sure sophomore playmaker Yna Papa looks good while filling in. Remy Palma is still recovering from that knee injury and Genevieve Casugod is still finding a way to add more dimension to her natural talent—and height. FEU as a whole seems oblivious to its strength, despite the youthful roster—“reinforced” by teenage guest players who will be making their rookie appearances next season in Toni Rose Basas (Mari Toni’s younger sibling) and the enigmatic Gerrili Malabanan.

On the individual front, St. Louis’ Krissian Tsuchiya had the most memorable debut of any SVL first-timer, perhaps since the University of St. La Salle’s Patty Orendain in 2009 and Ateneo's Alyssa Valdez in 2010.

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Tsuchiya, who uses the surname of her older sister’s Japanese husband as she was adopted by the couple, unleashed an astounding 26 points in the Lady Navigators’ five-set loss to Southwestern last Tuesday. The 20-year-old Baguio lass used a variety of methods to attain her scores and it even led me during the broadcast to call her a “magikera” as some of her displays of dexterity defies logic.

Laure also turned heads, but we all heard about how she terrorized the high schools ranks before moving to the college varsity.

The long pagodas of the Lady Cobras also got fans excited.

Lutgarda “Lut” Malaluan (5’11”) and ultra-senior Marilyn Llagoso (6’2”) needed every ounce of that length to subdue St. Louis, but just couldn’t contain the firepower of AU last Thursday. For Perpetual, 6’0” Colleen Bravo showed a lot of promise, albeit still groping for form. She’ll benefit a lot from playing with the reigning NCAA MVP Royse Tubino for the Lady Altas. The Lady Chiefs’ Christine Rosario is also having an impressive jumpstart to her SVL career as she’s already broken into the Top Ten in the league’s scoring parade, while diminutive Danna Henson—the former FEU reserve—is enjoying a renaissance of sorts with Arellano.

We now await the first matches of St. Benilde (which will be debuting on Tuesday against the Lady Cobras) and the mysterious Davao All-Stars led by policewoman Ronnie Concepcion and have some familiar surnames in their roster like “Dignadice” and “Balse”. They will be the last team to see action as—according to the schedule I presently hold—their first game will be against FEU on April 20. That’s almost a full month after opening day.

I will be broadcasting the games on Tuesday with the inimitable Twitter monster Noreen Go (I'm joking) and on Sunday (April 6th) most likely with the Remulla sisters.

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I want to take this opportunity to thank those who tweeted their very kind remarks when I’m on air. I apologize for not responding to you during the matches, but rest assured I read all of your tweets and most them are truly heart-warming.

See you at SJA. This is still a very, very long season and in the famous lyrics of the late Karen Carpenter, “We’ve only just begun”.

GAME RESULTS:

Tuesday, March 25th

Southwetsern def. St. Louis—25-20, 23-25, 25-15, 21-25, 19-17

SWU—Llagoso 19, Malaluan 15, Cabahug 12, Quiño 12, Abellana 8, Villanueva 7, de la Llana 4, Derder 1, Bongo 1, Darantinao 1, Pacinio (L) 0.

SLU—Tsuchiya 26, Rossi 13, Almonte 10, Daniel 9, Madulid 7, Aquino 1, Mejia (L) 0, Quezada (L) 0, Banjawan 0, Agudia 0, Gani 0.

FEU def. San Sebastian—25-21, 20-25, 25-11, 25-20

FEU—Pons 21, Palma 15, T. Basas 11, Casugod 6, Dawson 6, Papa 2, Agno (L) 0, Simborio 0, Atienza 0, Torres 0.

SSC-R—Soltones 17, Banaticla 15, Berbano 7, Devanadera 7, Corpuz 3, Labiano 3, T. Crisostomo 1, Villegas 1, Eroa (L) 0, M. Crisostomo (L) 0, Lim 0.

Thursday, March 27th

Arellano def. Southwestern—25-15, 25-17, 25-19

AU—Henson 13, Rosario 12, Tubiera 8, Salamagos 6, Sagun 5, de la Cruz 5, Prado 3, Legacion 2, Sierra 2, Oserio 2, Ticar 1, Galang (L) 0, Ibisa (L) 0, Cariño 0.

SWU—Llagoso 8, Malaluan 6, Cabahug 4, Derder 4, Darantinao 3, Abellana 1, Pacinio (L) 0, Quiño 0, Villanueva 0, de la Llana 0, Bongo 0.

Adamson def. St. Louis—25-10, 25-10, 25-20

AdU—Paat 11, Galanza 9, Pineda 8, Soriano 7, Cortel 4, Saengmuang 4, Villanueva 4, Macatuno 2, Lebumfacil 2, Velasco 2, Guevara 2, Emnas 1, Tempiatura (L) 0, Alkuino 0.

SLU—Madulid 6, Tsuchiya 5, Joseph 3, Rossi 3, Almonte 2, Aquino 2, Daniel 1, Mejia (L) 0, Quezada (L) 0, Agudia 0, Torres 0, Geronimo 0, Banjawan 0.

Sunday, March 30th

NU def. UST—25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 24-26, 15-10

NU—Aganon 17, J. Santiago 14, Pablo 11, D. Santiago 11, Urdas 11, Perez 9, Valdez 1, General (L) 0, Soliven 0.

UST—Laure 23, Meneses 16, Lastimosa 14, Tunay 12, Dimaculangan 4, de Leon 2, Cortez 2, Palec 2, Rasmo (L) 0, Dusaran (L) 0, Cabanos 0.

Arellano def. Ateneo—21-25, 25-16, 17-25, 25-20, 15-13

AU—Henson 14, Rosario 14, Sagun 9, Salamagos 7, Tubiera 6, de la Cruz 6, Legacion 4, Sierra 2, Galang (L) 0, Ibisa (L) 0, Cariño 0, Prado 0, Ticar 0, Oserio 0.

AdMU—Valdez 20, Morente 15, Ahomiro 14, Gequillana 10, Patnongon 5, Morado 2, Sato 2, Tejada 1, Lazaro (L) 0, de Leon 0.

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