Lady Bulldogs eye group sweep vs surging Agilas

Games today

2 p.m. – National U vs Davao

4 p.m. – Ateneo vs St. Louis U

MANILA, Philippines - National U tests Davao’s mettle as the Lady Bulldogs go for a sweep of Group B today even as Ateneo tries to improve its ranking against also-ran St. Louis U in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 First Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Lady Bulldogs remain the slight favorites despite the Agilas’ sweep of their first two games in a late campaign with the defending champions tipped to bank again on sisters Dindin and Jaja Santiago along with Carmin Aganon, Aiko Urdas, Myla Pablo and Fatima General.

NU, coming off a two-week layoff, has posted three shutout wins in its sweep of its first four matches but the Bustillos-based squad faces a different kind of challenge from a Davao side, which beat Far Eastern U in four and nipped NCAA champion Perpetual Help in five.

Gametime is at 2 p.m. with the Agilas seeking to formalize their stint in the quarterfinal round of the conference sponsored by Shakey’s behind May Agton, Venus Flores, Jocemer Tapic, Joy Oliveros, Irish Dignadice and setter Reynelen Raterta.

The Lady Eagles, meanwhile, go for No. 2 in Group A as they take on the Lady Navigators at 4 p.m. with the reigning UAAP champions, led by Alyssa Valdez and Amy Ahomiro, hoping to finish the single round elims of the tournament, backed by Mikasa, Accel and Lion Tiger Mosquito Coil, at 4-1.

That would tie Ateneo with Arellano although the Lady Chiefs will still take the top spot heading to the quarters after beating the reigning UAAP champions in five last March 30.

Under the format, the top four teams after the elims will move into the quarters where they will be grouped again in two. The top and No. 3 teams in both groups will compose Group I in the quarters while Group II will be made up of the Nos. 2 and 4 teams in the elims.

Games played by the teams in the same groups in the elims, however, will no longer be played but the results will be carried over into the Last 8 phase, according to the organized Sports Vision.

Meanwhile, the St. Benilde-SLU match last Tuesday will be aired at 1 p.m. today on GMA News TV Channel while the NU-Davao clash and the Ateneo-SLU duel will be shown tomorrow, also starting at 1 p.m.

Games can be viewed live on www.v-league.ph.