Smart-Army and Generika-Ayala fight for the last semifinals berth in a do-or-die quarterfinal clash in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga Invitational Conference today at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The Giga Hitters and Lifesavers collide in a sudden-death duel at 7 p.m. with the winner setting a semifinal battle with Petron on Saturday in this prestigious club tourney bankrolled by Isuzu, UCPB Gen and SOGO Hotel with ESPN5, Hyper HD and Aksyon TV as broadcast partners.
Prior to that, Foton and University of the Philippines-United Auctioneers clash for the 7th place finish at 4:15 pm, while Cocolife and University of the East-Cherrylume battle for 9th place in the 2 pm appetizer of the midseason conference that also has Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller and Grand Sport as technical sponsors.
F2 Logistics, meanwhile, bagged the third semis seat after ousting Sta. Lucia Realty, 25-16, 20-25, 25-17, 25-16, late Tuesday at the Imus Sports Center.
Kianna Dy led the way with 16 points and 16 digs, while skipper Cha Cruz-Behag and Majoy Baron delivered 12 and 11 hits, respectively, as the Cargo Movers forge a semis duel against Cignal HD Spikers on Saturday at the Muntinlupa Sports Center.
Generika-Ayala and Smart-Army, who both won three of their four preliminary games in their respective groups, are hungry to reach the semifinals for the first time.
The Lifesavers have yet to reach the semis since their comeback in 2016 and for head coach Sherwin Meneses, making it to the next round for the first time in two years will be such a special milestone.
“We will have a lot of adjustments on offense because our players are not so tall. But when it comes to defense, we will not have any problem since it has been our advantage for our past wins,” said Meneses as he continues to rely on his two-way spikers Patty Orendain, Bang Pineda and Fiola Ceballos as well as libero Kat Arado and middle blockers Angeli Araneta and Ria Meneses.
The Giga Hitters, on the other hand, are looking to keep their vast-improvement from a winless conference debut in the previous Grand Prix and see how far they can overachieve.
“Reaching the quarterfinals is big for us in a sense that Smart had zero wins last conference but we need to sustain our performance as we face a tougher and more exciting battle,” said smart head coach Kungfu Reyes, who steered Army an Invitational championship in beating Thailand’s EST Cola two years ago.
“We’re not only carrying the name of Smart, we also parade Army’s team as well as the young players from UST. We have to take full responsibility in bringing those names whatever the result will be. We’ll get to see how far we’ll go.”
Reyes will bank on Army veterans Ging Balse-Pabayo, Joanne Bunag and Nene Bautista together with young University of Santo Tomas stars Dimdim Pacres, Tin Francisco, Caitlyn Viray and Alina Bicar.
The loser will be relegated to the battle for 5th place facing Sta. Lucia Realty also on Saturday.
