Shakey's girls volley semis, finals under way

MANILA, Philippines - Hope Christian High School and Colegio San Agustin dispute the first finals berth in the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball League today in what is tipped to be a down-to-the-wire contest between two of the league’s leading teams at the old San Juan gym in San Juan City.

Both squads swept their respective quarterfinal opponents in impressive fashion with Hope CHS trouncing University of Santo Tomas, 25-13, 25-14, to remain on track of its title-retention bid in the eighth staging of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

CSA, on the other hand, stamped its class over University of the East, 25-15, 25-13, to arrange a semis showdown with Hope CHS at 9 a.m.

Two provincial teams, meanwhile, clash for the other finals berth with Angeles University Foundation taking on University of Perpetual Help-Laguna at 10:30 a.m.

AUF, led by Victonara Galang and Angeline Cutiongco, stunned St. Scholastica’s College in a thrilling three-setter, 23-25, 25-16, 28-26, last week to set up a semis duel with UPH-Laguna, which also pulled off a surprise 25-20, 26-24 victory over De La Salle-Lipa in their own side of the quarterfinal showdown.

Carol Cerveza and Desiree Cheng are again expected to spearhead Hope’s charge against the Ingrid Reyes-led CSA in the tournament backed by LBC, Toby’s Sports, Mikasa, Asics and Metro Sports.

The winners will slug it out for the championship in a best-of-five finale at 2:30 p.m., also today, while the losers dispute third place honors at 1 p.m.

The champion will join the other top teams from Cebu, Bacolod, Iloilo and Tacloban for the National Championships slated April 4-8 at the University of St. La Salle in Bacolod City.