C Visayas, S Luzon near Shakey’s semis

MANILA, Philippines - Central Visayas (CVI) and Southern Luzon (SLU) continued to flash their top form, storming to their second straight victories to boost their semifinal bids in the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Tournament-of-Champions yesterday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

CVI followed up its gigantic 25-19, 25-17 reversal over fancied Victoria team from Australia in the opening day with an easy 25-15, 25-16 dispatching of Eastern Visayas to stay unbeaten in Pool B halfway through the preliminary round.

Banking on Arianne Elise Ilustre’s 9 hits and 7 blocks, SLU similarly went 2-0 over in Pool A action after picking up a 25-13, 25-19 triumph over Mindanao in Day 2 of the competitions sponsored by Shakey’s and organized by Metro Sports.

Heather Anne Guino-o (three hits) and Regina Mangalubnan (two kills, two blocks) also delivered for SLU, which earlier trampled Central Luzon, 25-23, 25-21.

Rica Rivera, a reinforcement from University of Cebu, dropped four hits and scored two points off the block while Southwestern’s Sheena Quiño notched three hits and three aces to lead CVI to Win No. 2.

The volleybelles from Cebu trumpeted their serious bid as early as Monday when they brought down the tall Victoria team in straight sets kicking off the tourney also backed by Toby’s Sports, Mikasa as official ball, Tune Hotels as official residence of T-of-C, Asics and Volley Prep.

“They were quite intimidating with their height but we just did our best and just tried to enjoy the game),” said Rivera in Filipino

Assistant coach Lemuel Arreza said they adjusted to the Australians’ play quite well