Ateneo, Maynilad clash in Shakey's V League today

MANILA, Philippines - A pair of topnotch matches, featuring first conference champion Ateneo and fancied Maynilad, kicks off the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference today at The Arena in San Juan with both teams going all out in a match tipped to go down-to-the-wire.

The Lady Eagles, who beat the Adamson Lady Falcons for their first championship in the country’s premier women’s volley league, hope to start out strong and build the proverbial momentum and confidence they need against a talent-laden Maynilad squad.

Maynilad, which tapped Joy Cases as its guest player, is one of the four non-school teams vying in the tournament, a rung higher than the previous school-oriented conferences of the annual league in terms of talent and competitiveness. The three others are Navy, Air Force and Army.

San Sebastian, winner in the 2008 second conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza, and Perpetual Help are the two other school squads in the seven-team tournament serving as a pilot project designed to establish a commercial league and further raise the level of play in women’s volley.

The Lady Stags battle the Air Force side in the 2 p.m. opener of the league, backed by Mikasa as official volleyball, Accel as official outfitter and Maynilad Water as the official drinking water provider. The Lady Eagles test the Maynilad spikers’ mettle at 4 p.m.

Competition is expected to be fierce with the top six teams after a single round robin elims advancing to the quarterfinal round. The top four squads after another round robin will move to the semis with the No. 1 team facing off the No. 4 squad and the Nos. 2 and 3 teams clashing in a pair of best-of-three series for the final berths.

GMA-7 will air the games on its international channels – GMA Pinoy TV, GMA LifeTV and GMA News TV while NBN 4 will also telecast the games starting at 2 p.m.