By KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Games Today
(The Arena, San Juan City)
10 a.m. – PLDT vs IEM (men’s)
2 p.m. – BanKo-Perlas vs Tacloban (women’s)
4 p.m. – Iriga-Navy vs BaliPure-NU (women’s)
6:30 p.m. – Pocari-Air Force vs PetroGazz (women’s)
The race for the two remaining semifinal berths in the 2018 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference heats up today in the men’s and women’s divisions at The Arena in San Juan City.
Six women’s teams are battling for the last two semis seats, while four men’s squads are also fighting for the two other semis tickets in this round-robin quarterfinal phase.
All teams are back to square one as their elims records will not be carried over to the next round.
Women’s action pit BanKo-Perlas against Tacloban at 2 p.m., Iriga-Navy over BaliPure-National University at 4 p.m., and Pocari Sweat-Air Force versus PetroGazz at 6:30 p.m.
Men’s teams PLDT versus Instituto Estetico Manila (IEM) raise the curtain at 10 a.m.
Finishing third at the end of eliminations with a 4-3 card, Tacloban hopes to ride on the momentum of their back-to-back wins against Iriga-Navy (25-20, 25-22, 27-25) and Pocari-Air Force (25-17, 17-25, 25-20, 16-25, 15-10) to clinch the other semis berth.
The Fighting Warays, likewise, aim to duplicate their 25-27, 28-26, 25-19, 25-23 elims victory against the Perlas Spikers last May 2.
Thai imports Patcharee Seangmuang and Amporn Hyapha are expected to fuel Tacloban’s offensive attacks while joining forces with local bets Jovielyn Prado and Kyle Negrito.
BanKo-Perlas, meanwhile, is not intimidated of Tacloban despite settling for seventh at the end of elims with 3-4.
The Perlas Spikers are looking at hard-hitting imports Lakia Bright and Jutarat Montripila to match Tacloban’s strong offense after the duo conspired for 50 points the last time.
Creamline and PayMaya gained outright semis seats after taking the top two spots in the elims with 6-1 and 5-2 records.
