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Valdez carries Ateneo past PLDT, Air Force tops NU in start of Shakey’s V-League Open q’finals

QUARTERFINALS TEAM STANDINGS:

Cagayan Valley 4-1

Philippine Army 4-1

PLDT Home Telpad 4-2

Philippine Air Force 3-3

Ateneo de Manila University 1-5

National University 1-5


GAMES ON TUESDAY (August 5th at The Arena, San Juan City)

2:00PM – National University vs. PLDT Home Telpad

4:00PM – Philippine Army vs. Philippine Air Force

THE ARENA, San Juan City—Ateneo de Manila University’s Alyssa Valdez continued her wicked scoring run by scorching PLDT Home Telpad—and her former coach—for 26 points en route to a straight sets revenge over the Turbo Boosters 25-18, 25-21, 28-26, while embattled Philippine Air Force (PAF) needed four sets to dispose of the heady National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs 14-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-14 in the opening matches of the quarterfinals of the Shakey’s V-League Open here.

The Lady Eagles have the daunting task of having to win virtually all of its remaining matches in the quarterfinals after finishing in sixth and last among the qualifiers during the elimination round. The win put them just two games back of the Air Spikers for the fourth slot in semifinals, but the single round robin affair has just begun. Nevertheless, the opening triumph against PLDT Home Telpad gave their flickering campaign a big boost.

Valdez, the 21-year-old “phenom” from Batangas, waxed hot from the onset of the match and proved to be too much for the net defenses of the Turbo Boosters—coached by Roger Gorayeb, the man who recruited, trained and helped develop Valdez into the unstoppable offensive weapon she is today. She was helped by the steady play of veteran quicker Amy Ahomiro, who contributed ten points in the win, as well as the inspired floor defenses of libero Den-Den Lazaro and sophomore Michelle Morente.

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The Valdez onslaught negated another sparkling performance by PLDT Home Telpad’s legendary libero Lizlee Ann Gata-Pantone who did her best to stem the tide with her 32 “excellents” (10 excellent digs, 22 excellent receptions). Former league MVP Suzanne Roces led the Turbo Boosters with thirteen points, but failed to get the necessary support to duplicate their straight sets victory over the Lady Eagles in the prelims. Gata-Pantone's brilliance did not translate to offense as the Turbo Boosters hoped.

Ateneo finally also showed its endgame poise as the third set became a question of who wanted it more. The usually consistent guns of PLDT Home Telpad could not match the Lady Eagles’ firepower as the loss dropped them to solo third place, just half a game behind idle Philippine Army and defending champions Cagayan Valley.

Things don’t get any easier for Ateneo as they take on PAF in their next tiff on Thursday (August 7th). The Air Spikers defeated the Lady Eagles by going the full route in the elimination round. The Turbo Boosters try to pick up the pieces against NU on Tuesday (August 5th).

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The question still remains for PLDT Home Telpad if stalwarts Aby Maraño, Mina Aganon and first conference MVP Din-Din Santiago will suit up by then. Santiago had already indicated that she is on volleyball hiatus to rest several nagging physical pains after almost six months of non-stop volleyball—UAAP, to SVL, to PSL. There is no news available on the status of Maraño and Aganon as of this writing.

In the first match, PAF were still without prized recruit—and former league MVP—Sandra de los Santos, but bucked an ugly first set showing to deal three straight lopsided set wins against NU to get back on the winning track.

The wing combo of Judy Caballejo and Joy Cases delivered kill after kill after that anemic opener and quickly deflated any ambitions the Lady Bulldogs had of keeping the encounter competitive. So flat was the showing of NU in the second to fourth sets that their combined forty points scored over that span set a league low for the season.

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PAF forced the Lady Bulldogs into a season-high 29 errors and held NU to a season-low nineteen excellent digs as Caballejo and Cases just put on a spiking clinic. Caballejo scored a game-high sixteen points while Cases had fifteen. The win also exposed the many facets that NU are now missing in the post Din-Din/Mina stage of their new development. They will be tested anew on Tuesday against a reeling PLDT Home Telpad while Air Force lock horns with a streaking Lady Troopers’ squad that looks to have all the ingredients in place for a title run.

This is a long quarterfinal round.

It is long for the teams atop the leaderboard as they must fend off the desperate attempts of the bottom rung teams, while the teams struggling to stay alive must contend with the fact a loss could drop them out of contention; or at least make it very difficult to control their own destiny. Ateneo and NU still control theirs for the moment, but one debacle could be costly.

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See you all on Tuesday. Noreen Go and I will be broadcasting the games, while Bianca Saldua will be doing courtside duties. The Final Four is still unsure, but will that trend continue? Stay tuned.

BOXSCORES:

Philippine Air Force def. National University – 14-25, 25-14, 25-12, 25-14

PAF—Caballejo 16, Cases 15, Tapic 9, de Ramos 8, Pantino 6, Ma. Ortiz 5, Dimaculangan 3, Balmaceda (L) 0, Semana 0, Andaya 0.

NU—J. Santiago 15, My. Pablo 9, Mandapat 7, Singh 6, Dadang 5, Perez 5, Ma. Pablo 1, Abriam 1, General (L) 0.

Ateneo de Manila University def. PLDT Home Telpad – 25-18, 25-21, 28-26

AdMU—A. Valdez 26, Ahomiro 10, Gequillana 7, B. de Leon 7, Morente 6, Morado 3, Lazaro (L) 0, Tan 0.

PLDT—Roces 13, Latigay 9, Soltones 8, C. Soriano 7, Benting 4, Devanadera 3, R. de Leon 2, Gata-Pantone (L) 0.

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