Stars take center stage in Super Liga quarterfinals

Games Sunday:

(Cuneta Astrodome)

 3 p.m. – Petron vs PLDT (W)

5 pm – AirAsia vs

Cagayan Valley (W)

7 pm – PLDT Air Force vs Via Mare (M)

MANILA, Philippines – The beautiful stars of the game – Dindin Santiago and Michelle Gumabao – are expected sparkle when Petron and AirAsia take on separate foes in the quarterfinals of the 2014 PLDT Home-Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference volleyball tournament Sunday at the Cuneta Astrodome.

The third-seeded Blaze Spikers tackle No. 6 PLDT at 3 p.m. while the fourth-seeded Flying Spikers collide with No. 5 Cagayan Valley at 5 p.m., looking to coast to the semifinals of the women's division of this premiere inter-club tournament supported by PLDT Home DSL and backed by Mikasa, Asics, Mueller Tapes, Jinling Sports Equipment, LGR, Bench and Healthway Medical.

The survivor between Petron and PLDT will take on No. 2 RC Cola Air Force while the winner in the AirAsia-Cagayan Valley showdown will face top team Generika Army in the do-or-die semifinals next week.

Pacesetter PLDT Air Force, meanwhile, stakes its immaculate slate against cellar-dweller Via Mare at 7 p.m. as action in the second round of the men's division heats up in this competition organized by Sports Core with Solar Sports as official broadcast partner.

Meanwhile, organizing Sportscore will hold a 2-day VIS Clinic on this full weekend at St. Giles Hotel, Makati City with Gianni Cerillo an accredited FIVB VIS lecturer as main speaker.

“Mr. Cerillo will give us advance training through the Technical Development Program of the PSL to strengthen and build the capabilities of our teams, coaches and players with the use of computer backed Information Technology – a trend being applied by international teams, clubs and federations,” said PSL and Sportscore president Ramon “Tats” Suzara.

Participants are PSL Head Coaches, Team Statisticians and other coaches pre-selected by Sportscore and the PSL.

After opening their campaign on a scorching note with three straight victories, the Blaze Spikers ran out of gas as RC Cola Air Force and AirAsia dealt them with setbacks that hurt their chances of claiming one of the two outright semifinal berths.

In those twin losses, the 6-foot-2 Santiago played far from her numbers with an average 17 points, way below her 30-point outputs in their previous wins. But in their 25-17, 23-25, 25-20, 25-19 conquest of Cignal last week, Santiago recovered with a sterling 24-point effort, enough for Petron coach George Pascua to express optimism her performance would peak in the crucial stages of the tournament.

"With the way she performed, I'm giving her a seven," said Pascua. "Medyo may konti pang inconsistencies. I believe she's already getting there. She just needs a little more training and conditioning to regain her power and playing condition. But I like her overall performance. It was a good sign."

Like Santiago, the equally lovely Gumabao is displaying recovery after staying away from volleyball for the past two months to attend to her budding career in show business.

Although she finished with only three points in the Flying Spikers' 25-23, 19-25, 25-19, 25-23 blasting of the Blaze Spikers in Cebu last week, her intangible contributions such as heart, leadership and hustle were priceless, giving her coach, Ramil de Jesus, a good reason to hail her as the game's best performer.

"Thumbs up ako kay Michelle," said de Jesus, adding that Gumabao's numbers were far bigger than stated in the stats sheet.

"She had only three practices with us, so I really didn't expect this kind of performance from her. She did a lot of things that don't reflect the stat sheet. It was her defense, heart, hustle and leadership which gave us the win," he added.

But Santiago and Gumabao's quarter-final missions wouldn't be easy as PLDT and Cagayan Valley are expected to come up with good fights, especially with their title chances on the line.

"Cagayan is an organized and a very disciplined team," De Jesus added. "It is defense which will give us the win. We have to stop their open and middle hitters if we want to advance to the next round. It's going to be a dogfight, that's for sure."

Aside from Gumabao, de Jesus is pinning his hopes on Stephanie Mercado, Michelle Laborte, Maureen Penetrante-Ouano and skipper Cha Cruz, who delivered 19 points in their morale-boosting win over Petron.