UST eyes 2nd victory in Shakey’s V-League

University of Santo Tomas gets the first chance to test what kind of stuff Ateneo is made of as the Tigresses shoot for their second straight win against the debuting Lady Eagles in the Shakey’s V-League Second Conference at The Arena in San Juan today.

The Tigresses, who swept the San Sebastian tossers to rule the first conference of the league’s fourth season last July, took off from where they left, beating the La Salle Lady Archers, 25-16, 25-22, 25-11, in last week’s opener of the event sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

The Tigresses drew 29 points from the Venus Bernal-Mary Jean Balse tandem while guest player Suzanne Roces backed them up with 10 points to key the victory over the former three-time champions.

But against the Lady Eagles, the Tigresses will be facing a team which underwent tremendous buildup during the off-season in its serious bid to atone for its seventh and fifth place finishes in the last two conferences of the league organized by Sports Vision.

In fact, Ateneo is coming into the event all geared up following a three-week training stint in Thailand with guest player Lithawat Kesinee backing a squad composed of Ma. Rosario Soriano, Denise Acevedo, Misha Quimpo, Bianca Sison, Stephanie Sison, Stephanie Gabriel, Karla Bello and Bea Pascual.

The 5-foot-10 Kesinee, 26, is a two-time SEA Games veteran and is said to be more powerful than San Sebastian import Jaroensri Bualee, making the 3 p.m. encounter truly a match to watch.

For updates on the country’s premier volley league, features/forum on its top players, complete sked, stats, results and gallery, log on to www.v-league.ph.

Far Eastern U tries takes on Lyceum in the 5 p.m. main game of the event backed by Mikasa, Accel, 100Plus Isotonic Drink and Active White Skin whitening products.

Rachel Daquis and Josephine Cafranca combined for 25 points to power the Lady Tams to a 25-15, 25-21, 25-15 victory over the Lady Knights to even their card at 1-1.

Also set in the day is the announcement of the winners in the photo contest in the previous conference. The champion is to receive P20,000, second placer gets P15,000 and the third placer P10,000.

But focus will be on the UST-Ateneo duel with the Tigresses eyeing the solo lead and the Lady Eagles a strong start in what they hope to be a successful campaign in the league.

The UST-Ateneo game will be shown on a delayed basis tomorrow on NBN-4 starting at 2 p.m. while the FEU-Lyceum encounter will be aired on Tuesday. On tap for today’s telecast is the FEU-Letran match.