Defending champion National University and University of the East dispute the last quarterfinals twice-to-beat advantage in Pool E as the 2024 Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship second round comes to a close Wednesday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Sporting identical 1-1 win-loss records, the winner of the 11 a.m. match will join unbeaten La Salle into the next phase armed with incentives.
Meanwhile, Far Eastern University aims for a Pool F sweep and a quarters bonus against University of the Philippines at 2 p.m., while the Lady Spikers and College of Saint Benilde clash at 5 p.m.
The three-peat-seeking Lady Bulldogs look to ride the momentum of a morale-boosting, 25-11, 25-23, 25-13, sweep of the Lady Blazers last Sunday to finish in the top two of the round-robin stage heading into the quarters of the tournament backed by Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, GCash, Chery Tiggo, F2 Logistics, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Potato Corner, R and B Milk Tea and Summit Water.
“Kukunin namin itong panalo namin as an inspiration para sa mga next games namin para pagbutihan at gagalingan pa kasi may kaya pa kaming ipakita,” said NU middle blocker Alexa Mata.
Bella Belen and Mata delivered the goods the last time out, scoring 11 and 10 points, respectively, as the Lady Bulldogs recovered from a sorry four-set loss to La Salle at the start of the second round that snapped their 28-game winning streak dating back from 2022.
NU’s win over Saint Benilde also gave La Salle, carrying a 2-0 slate, the first quarters bonus outright.
The Lady Warriors, on the other hand, will rely on the explosive duo of Jelai Gajero and Casiey Dongallo to bounce back from a four-set loss to the Lady Spikers last Saturday and secure a twice-to-beat advantage.
La Salle is eyeing to extend its winning run in the competition which has Smart Sports, PLDT Fibr, Mikasa, Asics, Rebel Sports, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), and SM Tickets as technical partners to six.
The Lady Blazers are winless after two starts in the second round.
In Pool F, another win will secure the Lady Tamaraws (2-0) an incentive and hand the other quarters bonus to idle University of Santo Tomas (2-1).
FEU dominated Ateneo de Manila University, 25-18, 25-18, 25-19, last Sunday.
If the Fighting Maroons emerge victorious, forcing a three-way tie at 2-1, a tiebreaker will determine the top two teams in Pool F.
UP bowed to UST in straight sets last Saturday.
The top two teams in Pools E and F will battle the third and fourth-ranked squads from the opposite pools in the crossover quarterfinals for spots in the knockout semifinals.
The gold medal is a best-of-three series while the battle for bronze is a one-game affair.
SSL games are aired live and on-demand via Puso Pilipinas, SMART Livestream, Solar Sports Channel 70 on Sky Cable and Channel 59 on Cable Link.
