Games Today
11 a.m. – Army vs Navy
1 p.m. – Air Force vs Sta. Elena
3 p.m. – Ateneo vs IEM
Ateneo-Fudgee Bar seeks to grab the solo lead in the early going of the Spikers’ Turf as it faces Instituto Estetico Manila today even as four teams launch their respective bids in the Open Conference at the Blue Eagle gym in QC.
The Eagles drew a combined 37-hit output from Tony Koyfman, Chumason Njigha and John Rivera as they swept newcomer Fury Blazing Hitters, 25-15, 25-17, 25-15, with Cignal and PLDT also coming through with a pair of 3-1 romps over Prima-FEU and IEM in last Saturday’s inaugurals of the tournament organized by Sports Vision in cooperation with television partner Cignal TV.
Despite their big start, the Eagles expect a tough challenge from the Volley Masters in their 3 p.m. encounter with coach Tim Sto. Tomas hoping to draw sustained charge from his talent-laden crew, including Ron Medalla, Gian Glorioso and playmaker Lawrence Magadia.
But IEM is out to bounce back from that setback to PLDT on a team built around power hitters Jason Canlas and Mark Enciso with Lorenze Santos, Ferdian Guanzon, Jonathan Sorio and skipper Jeffrey Jimenez eager to provide solid backup in a bid to get back into the mix.
Army and Navy, meanwhile, try to get their campaign going as they tangle in the 11 a.m. opener of another triplebill that also features the Air Force-Sta. Elena duel at 1 p.m.
With the format being a single round robin elims among 10 teams, every match counts, ensuring high powered action from the country’s leading and rising players.
The league, where the members of the national team seeing action in next year’s SEA Games here will be culled from, airs two of its three matches live on Cignal TV on game days (Saturday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday) as part of the new partners effort to give the sport a mainstream appeal.
