Lady Eagles resume quarterfinal drive

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo tries to shrug off a two-week layoff as it guns for the third quarterfinal seat in Group B against struggling University of San Jose-Recoletos today in Shakey’s V-League Season 7 at The Arena in San Juan.

University of Santo Tomas and San Sebastian cap an explosive Sunday twinbill in a duel of title contenders with both going all out to keep their unbeaten slates heading into the tough quarterfinal phase.

The Lady Eagles have not seen action since opening their campaign with a 25-21, 26-24, 25-19 over the St. Benilde tossers last April 11. But the Loyola-based squad remains the favorite over the Visayan team which dropped its first two games in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and presented by PLDT MyDSL.

Gametime is at 2 p.m.

A win by Ateneo will put the Lady Eagles in the quarters alongside Lyceum and Adamson and will dampen the Jaguars’ own bid for the last QF slot in the tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Mikasa, Accel and Mighty Bond.

USJ-R hopes to draw the best from guest players Michiko Castaneda and Michelle Simbajon and regulars Hannah Singson, Abigail Praca, Joy Bonita, and Carla Dubduban to stay in the hunt.

St. Benilde, which closed out its elims campaign with a 1-3 card, is the other team vying for the fourth and last quarterfinal seat in Group B.

The 4 p.m. clash between San Sebastian and UST, meanwhile, is expected to go down-to-the-wire with the Lady Stags going for a sweep of Group A elims on a team built around Thai import Jeng Bualee and veterans Suzanne Roces, Joy Benito, Margarita Pepito, Melissa Mirasol and Dafna Robiños.

But the defending champion Tigresses also look formidable after back-to-back victories behind reigning MVP Aiza Maizo and mainstays Denise Santiago, Angeli Tabaquero, Maika Ortiz and guest player and former MVP Mary Jean Balse.

The top four teams in each group after the single round elims will advance to the quarters where they will again be divided into two with the Nos. 1 and 3 teams making up the first group and the Nos. 2 and 4 squads composing the other side.

Meanwhile, the Ateneo-USJ-R match will be shown tomorrow at 2 p.m. on NBN-4 while the UST-SSC game will be aired Monday.

-- end it//thanks