Army seeks fifth in row versus PNP

MANILA, Philippines - Army hopes to chalk up win No. 5 against winless Philippine National Police, seeking to move closer to a sweep of the single round elims in the Shakey’s V-League Season II Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan today.

The Lady Troopers played to their true potential in dominating the erstwhile fellow unbeaten PLDT Home Telpad side in three last Thursday, netting them the first quarterfinal berth and making them the solid favorites against the Lady Patrollers in the 4 p.m. main game.

PLDT Home Telpad, meanwhile, hopes to rebound from a straight-set defeat to Army the last time out as it faces a resurgent National U side in the 2 p.m. opener.

After beating their first four rivals in smashing fashions, the Power Boosters got thumped by the Lady Troopers last week but the league’s newcomers are eager to bounce back in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

But the Lady Bulldogs are also on a comeback trail after back-to-back losses, beating the Lady Patrollers last Sunday, thus guaranteeing a slam-bang duel between two of the title contenders in the league where it all started.

While Army dropped just one set in racking up four straight victories, PNP has never won a single set after five games in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

Meanwhile, the Ateneo-UP match last Sunday will be shown today starting at 1 p.m. on GMA News TV Channel with the NU-PLDT clash to be aired Wednesday. The Army-PNP face-off will be telecast on Thursday, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Army coach Rico de Guzman is expected to try new combinations as they brace for their matches against Ateneo and defending champion Cagayan Valley, two tough teams standing in the Lady Troopers’ way for the elims sweep.

PNP and UP, both with 0-5 marks, still have chances to force a playoff for the last quarterfinal berths but they must sweep their last two games and hope that National U and Ateneo, with identical 2-2 slates, drop their three remaining matches.

But the Lady Patrollers need to do the next thing to impossible and achieve what the four other teams before them had failed to do – stop the powerhouse Lady Troopers.