Ateneo-Motolite seeks to formalize its Final Four entry against BanKo-Perlas today while PetroGazz and Tacloban try to bolster each other’s bid for the fourth and last semifinal berth in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Open Conference at the Malolos Sports and Convention Center in Bulacan.
The league-leading Lady Eagles go all out in their 6 p.m. encounter with the Perlas Spikers, aiming not only to stretch their win run to four but also put a lock on the first semis seat at 10-2. An added motivation for the league’s hottest team is to get back at the very squad that dealt the Lady Eagles their other shutout loss last Oct. 7.
Ateneo’s tall frontline of Kat Tolentino, Bea de Leon, and Maddie Madayag has anchored the team’s surge in the tournament the Lady Eagles are using to hone up for the UAAP wars. But with the way they are playing and humbling even the most fancied teams in the fold with their hitting and blocking, observers believe the young Katipunan-based squad has the materials to go all the way to the championship.
But the Perlas Spikers, in joint second with idle Creamline at 7-2, will try to shoot them down and boost their own drive for the top spot heading to the final week of the double round robin elims of the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.
The Angels and the Fighting Warays, meanwhile, go for an all-important win in their 4 p.m. faceoff with the former, at fourth with a 5-4 slate, out to build some cushion in a fierce battle for the last semis spot and the latter, at sixth with a 4-7 mark, hoping to stay in the race.
Pocari-Air Force is half-a-game behind PetroGazz at 5-5.
Like BanKo-Perlas, PetroGazz swept Tacloban in their first-round meeting but the Warays are in a must-win situation, guaranteeing another explosive weekend in the country’s premier league’s four-to-last out-of-town sortie in the conference.
Next up is the crucial match between Creamline and Pocari-Air Force in Legazpi City tomorrow (Sunday) with the Cool Smashers and the Perlas Spikers facing off again on Nov. 17 in Cagayan de Oro before Batangas City Coliseum hosts the league’s last two elims games on Nov. 21 and 24.
