Army, Navy rip foes, gain V-League quarterfinal

MANILA, Philippines - Philippine Army bounced back from a third set setback with a methodical win in the fourth as it subdued Maynilad, 25-22, 25-15, 25-27, 25-15, to stretch its win run to four and join San Sebastian and Navy in the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

The Army ladies, dragged into a fourth set by a gritty Maynilad side, dominated the early going of the fourth, winning eight of the first nine points then went to Rachel Ann Daquis and Joanne Buñag to finish off their rivals.

It was Army’s fourth straight triumph, moving two wins from sweeping the single round robin elims of the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

The Army tossers also formalized their stint in the quarters, together with Navy, which earlier routed Air Force behind its vaunted attacking game for a 25-18, 25-15, 25-17 victory.

San Sebastian took the first quarters berth with a 4-1 card after beating Maynilad in three last Thursday.

Daquis finished with 17 hits, including 11 kills, three blocks and three service points, while Bunag made 12 attacks and wound up with 13 points.

Marietta Carolino also came through with a 16-hit performance for Army which goes for a sweep against Ateneo and SSC this week.

Maynilad, the lone commercial squad in the seven-team field, dropped to 1-3.

Joy Cases delivered 15 hits, including 10 attacks, while Mervic Mangui had 10 pionts and Nica Guliman added eight hits for Maynilad, which put on a gritty stand in the third to extend the match.

Earlier, the Navy tossers unloaded 39 kills as against Air Force’s 22 and scored 10 points off the serve to dominate the one-hour, 12-minute encounter and post their third straight win since dropping a four-setter to Army in the league backed by Accel, Mikasa and Maynilad Water.

The Navy-Air Force duel will be shown on NBN-4 starting at 2 p.m. today and on GMA-7’s international channels GMA Pinoy TV, GMA LifeTV and GMA News TV, according to the organizing Sports Vision. The Army-Maynilad game will be aired tomorrow.

Former MVP Nerissa Bautista unleashed five power-packed serves and finished with 16 points while Suzanne Roces, a former two-time MVP, had four service aces and wound up with 15 hits as the Navy ladies cut the Air Force side down to size in the absence of ace hitter Cherry Rose Macatangay.

Air Force tried to mount a rally in the third, winning four straight points to close within 16-21 but Bautista and Rose Prochina came through with a pair of hits and Navy held Air Force to just one point to wrap up the match.

“We cashed in on our offense, which has so many variations and our defense also held up,” said Roces, who bagged the Player of the Game award.

 after finishing with 10 kills and one block.

Macatangay, who normed 14 hits in the first four games, sat out the game with a knee injury, but former UST star Aiza Maizo failed to draw solid support from the rest of the team, which took its third loss against two wins.

Maizo scored 11 hits but no other churned out a double-digit score with Wendy Semana and Cherry Vivas struggling with five points apiece and Ma. Teresa dela Rosa adding four.

Michelle Laborte also turned in a solid game for Navy with 12 hits while Cecile Cruzada and Prochina added five and three points, respectively.