Army rips Meralco, gains Shakey’s V-League q’finals

MANILA, Philippines - Army clipped Meralco’s top hitter Coco Wang and hacked out a 25-21, 25-16, 25-18 victory to join Cagayan Province and Smart-Maynilad in the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League 10 Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan City yesterday.

Former MVP Mary Jean Balse dished out her best game thus far, topscoring with 16 hits while Jovelyn Gonzaga backed her up with 13 markers with the duo, along with Nene Bautista, Michelle Carolino and the comebacking Rachel Anne Daquis, combining in taking Wang out of her comfort zone.

The Chinese ace, who normed 15 hits coming into the match, was held to just nine, as the Army Women alternated in checking her upfront and went on to fashion out the 72-minute victory.

Army improved to 4-1 for second but still stood way behind Cagayan Province which swept the elims with a 7-0 card heading to the carryover quarters of the season-ending conference sponsored by Shakey’s.

With Wang shackled, Maureen Ouano and Maica Morada tried to take over but also failed, finishing with 11 and eight points, respectively, as the Power Spikers fell to fifth at 3-3.

Earlier, Air Force overcame Navy’s fierce first-set challenge and hammered out a 25-18, 25-8, 25-16 victory to move up to fourth with a 3-2 slate.

The Air Women overwhelmed the Lady Sailors behind Joy Cases and Judy Ann Caballero’s power hits and Wendy Semana’s superb set-up plays, completing the rout and extending the team’s streak to three after back-to-back setbacks.

Meanwhile, the Air Force-Navy match will be shown on GMA News TV Channel 11 today starting at 1 p.m. while the Army-Meralco showdown will be aired Monday, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Cases fired 16 kills and wound up with 18 hits while Caballejo added nine attacks for a 10-point output as the Air Women scored a follow-up to their last victory over the Smart-Maynila tossers last week.