W Visayas sweeps EV, moves to T-of-C semis

MANILA, Philippines - Western Visayas utilized its floor defense efficiently to hack out a merciless 25-6, 25-11 rout of Eastern Visayas to join Southern Luzon in the Final Four of the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Tournament-of-Champions yesterday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.

Keeping their rivals bleeding for points most of the way, the WVI volleybelles cruised to their third straight victory for the top spot in Pool B, booking one of two berths to the Last-4 with still a game left in their preliminary round campaign.

The bets from Iloilo will look to finish the elims of the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s and organized by Metro Sports with a clean slate when they tangle today with regional rival Central Visayas (2-0 at presstime).

Roma Joy Doromal provided the spark for Western Visayas, punching in four hits and three aces, with Sarah Jean Gonzaga complementing her with a four-hit, one-block effort and Princess Robles accounting for three kills.

Southern Luzon clinched the first semis berth in Pool A with a double win last Tuesday, beating Mindanao, 25-13, 25-19, and outlasting NCR-South, 13-25, 25-18, 25-22.

Represented by De La Salle-Lipa and backstopped by top players from Imus Institute and University of Perpetual Help-Laguna, the Southern Luzon tossers thus swept their first three matches to advance to the crossover semis.

They shoot for a sweep against the NCR-West side today in one of the four matches closing out the single round elims of the event backed by Toby’s Sports, Mikasa as official ball, Tune Hotels as official residence of T-of-C, Asics and Volley Prep.

Eunikah Mae Torres led the way for EVI (1-2) with two aces, one hit and one block.

WVI, the 2012 runner-up who is represented here by Central Philippine University, boosted its semifinal bid the other day with a crucial 25-16, 22-25, 24-20 upset of fancied Victoria team from Australia.

“Sabi ko sa mga bata, kapag nanalo tayo sa Victoria, siguradong pasok na tayo. So nagpursigi naman sila (I told the girls that if we beat Victoria, we’ll surely make it to the semis. And they responded well),” said Western Visayas coach Jeffrey Alcarde.

He said they neutralized the Aussies’ power smashes with a solid floor defense, from which their offense flowed.