Davao spikers repulse Perpetual, near quarters berth

Games Thursday

(The Arena, San Juan City)

2 p.m. – NU vs Davao

4 p.m. – Ateneo vs St. Louis

MANILA, Philippines – Davao Lady Agilas fought back from two sets down as it turned back reigning NCAA champion Perpetual Help with a gruelling 23-25, 24-26, 25-18, 25-20, 17-15 victory to put close in on a quarterfinal berth in the Shakey's V-League Season 11-First Conference at The Arena in San Juan City Tuesday.

May Shiel Agton and Venus Flores carried the Lady Agilas on their shoulders as the two unloaded a combined 41 hits, including 40 on kills, to send the Lady Agilas, composed of the best spikers of the region, to their second straight victory following a 25-20, 25-19, 20-25, 25-22 win over Far Eastern U Sunday.

Davao, which also drew 14 hits from Jocemer Tapic and 10 from Angel Mae Antipuesto, will thus need to win at least one of its last three games in Group B, including this one against defending champion National U, which is unbeaten in four starts and looking for a sweep with another win over the former.

The Lady Agilas' two other games are against the Santo Tomas Tigresses and the San Sebastian Lady Stags.

"Our goal is to make the quarterfinals and we'll see what happens from there," said Davao coach Shane Alagao in Filipino.

The crisp-spiking Agton shone the brightest in the fifth and deciding set after scoring her team's last two points, the first a block and another a kill straight to an empty space in the middle, to break a 15-all deadlock and seal the deal.

It triggered a wild celebration at the court as the Lady Agilas stretched their winning streak to two.

Then they face NU's vaunted twin towers of siblings 6-4 Dindin and 6-6 Jaja Santiago in a match that could gauge how far Davao could go.

"NU is one of the strongest teams here, if not the strongest. It will be a test for us as a team because they'll be the strongest we'll be facing in this tournament so far," said Alagao.

The Lady Altas, which came into the tournament as a contender after reigning supreme in the NCAA, just found the absence of leading spiker Mary Joyce Turbino and coach Sammy Acaylar, who is currently with the PLDT Home TVolution team competing in the Asian Women's Club Championship in Thailand.

The Las Pinas-based spikers, who were led by pretty Abigael Praca's 14 hits and Norie Jane Diaz's 18, fell to their fourth straight defeat and out of the quarterfinals contention.