Generika-PA targets No. 3 vs RC-PAF

MANILA, Philippines - Streaking Generika-Army goes for its third straight win as it clashes with RC Cola-Air Force today even as PLDT Home TVolution and Cignal HD tangle in the other women’s encounter in the PLDT Home-Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference volleyball tournament at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The Lady Troopers take on the Raiders at 2 p.m. while Cignal HD tries to snap a spell in its 4 p.m. showdown with PLDT Home TVolution.

Meanwhile, pacesetter PLDT-Air Force tangles with Instituto Estetico Manila at 6 p.m., looking to keep its unbeaten run in the men’s side of tournament.

Champions in the past two conferences, the Lady Troopers are back in the groove after dropping their first two games, beating Cignal HD and AirAsia in emphatic fashions.

In their 25-20, 23-25, 25-20, 25-15 romp over the erstwhile undefeated Flying Spikers, Tina Salak tallied a game-high 42 excellent sets to compliment the impressive performance of Jovelyn Gonzaga and Mary Jean Balse, who finished with 19 and 18 hits, respectively.

Meanwhile, the league, organized by Sports Core with Solar Sports as official broadcast partner and supported by PLDT Home DSL and backed by Mikasa, Asics, Mueller Tapes, Jinling Sports Equipment, LGR, Bench and Healthway Medical, takes a two-week break to give way to the Cagayan Friendship Games this weekend.

Action resumes on July 2 before the league flies to Cebu City on July 5 for its first-ever out-of-town game.

Salak and the Lady Troopers are expected to have their hands full against the younger and vastly-improved RC Cola-Air Force side, their chief rival in other major tournaments.

After racking up three consecutive wins, the Raiders bowed to the Petron side before thumping the Flying Spikers to remain at second with a 4-1 mark.

“We’ll have a good match-up with Army. We played inspired game everytime we play them,” said RC Cola-Air Force coach Clarence Esteban.

Esteban, who drew impressive numbers from Joy Cases and Iari Yongco in their previous win over the Flying Spikers, said he plans to utilize the playmaking prowess of Rhea Dimaculangan to counter Salak as well as deploy Maika Ortiz and Judy Ann Caballejo to defend the hot smashes of middle hitter Balse and open spiker Rachel Anne Daquis.

“We’ll just stick to our game plan,” he said. “We’ll do everything that made us successful in our previous wins. But we have to improve our reception.”