Lady Eagles, Falcons go for 3rd title faceoff

Games today (MOA Arena, Pasay City)

2 p.m. – NU vs Adamson

4 p.m. – Ateneo vs UST

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo and Adamson try to seal a third title showdown in the Shakey’s V-League while University of Santo Tomas and National U go all-out to force a sudden death as the league marks a historic playdate at the MOA Arena in Pasay City today.

The Lady Eagles and the Lady Falcons fashioned out a pair of come-from-behind victories over the Tigresses and the Lady Bulldogs, respectively, with the former hacking out a 20-25, 25-16, 29-27, 25-14 win and the latter snatching a 22-25, 25-18, 25-19, 22-25, 15-13 victory in the opener of the Final Four of Season 10 First Conference at the Philsports Arena.

“The importance of winning Game One is that it gives us not only momentum but also the psychological edge,” said Ateneo coach Roger Gorayeb in Filipino. “UST will also have only one day to make the adjustment, that’s another advantage for us.”

All teams actually didn’t have the luxury of time to make the necessary adjustments, including Ateneo and Adamson, which despite their victories, need to come up with surprises to baffle the other teams’ play patterns and complete a pair of sweeps.

More so on a bigger stage as the MOA Arena, which is expected to draw a banner crowd bracing for another pair of down-to-the-wire matches between Adamson and NU collide at 2 p.m. and Ateneo and UST at 4 p.m.

Victories by Adamson and Ateneo will set up a third title face-off between the league’s two-time champions with the Lady Falcons prevailing in the 2008 First Conference finals and the latter getting back in the 2011 First Conference.

A pair of reversals, however, will pave the way for two sudden deaths with the decider to be played back at the Philsports Arena on Sunday.

Expect Ateneo to lean again on the explosive foursome of Jeng Bualee, Alyssa Valdez, Rachel Anne Daquis and Fille Cainglet, who combined for 67 hits to repulse the Tigresses, who took the first set but lost a tightly-fought third set duel and lost steam in the fourth.

But expect the Tigresses to bounce back strong too in a game they could not afford to lose with coach Odjie Mamon hopeful to draw the best from Aiza Maizo, Maika Ortiz, Pam Lastimosa, Carmela Tunay, Jessey de Leon and the duo of Maru Banaticla and Judy Caballejo.

The Lady Falcons hope to dish out the same brand of play, plus more, they showed in pulling the rug from under the fancied Bulldogs, who finally tasted defeat after sweeping their first seven matches.

“If we can show the same aggressiveness in our attack and our net defense, we’ll have a chance against them,” said Adamson mentor Sherwin Meneses, who steered Adamson to a solid third place finish in last year’s UAAP season as a rookie coach.

Former star Angela Benting will again be the player to watch for Adamson after she lit up the board with a game-high 28 hits she highlighted with 25 spectacular kills.

“Since we got her (Benting) as our guest player, she made sure to really stay in shape by training hard. Now look at what she’s giving to the team? She’s really our heart and soul,” said Meneses.

NU coach Edjet Mabbayad, meanwhile, hopes to motivate his wards to play tougher defense while minimizing their errors.