Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Ateneo and La Salle revisit volleyball rivalry today

Standings   W    L
Ateneo        13   0
La Salle      12   1
NU              6    6
UP              5    7
Adamson    5    7
UST            5    8
FEU            4    8
UE               0    13

Games today at the Mall of Asia Arena:
8 a.m. UST vs UP (men)
10 a.m. Ateneo vs La Salle (men)
12 noon – NU vs Adamson (women)
2 p.m. – UP vs FEU (women)
4 p.m. – La Salle vs Ateneo (women)

Ateneo seeks to complete the eliminations unscathed as they face rivals La Salle to cap off a rare women's volleyball tripleheader at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Originally scheduled on February 22, schedule conflicts forced the UAAP to rejigger its schedule to accommodate the thousands of fans who want to watch their favorite players.

Although the defending champions are at the cusp of making the finals automatically with a win, the Lady Eagles still maintain a "one game at a time" mindset. Reigning MVP Alyssa Valdez says, "Iniisip lang namin yung last game (ng elims) at saka na ang future games. Kailangan lang maglaro ng maayos." She adds that they have to be "mentally prepared" today against the Lady Spikers, who took them to the limit in their first round meeting.

As for the former champions, head coach Ramil de Jesus believes that other schools are praying for a La Salle victory later, as an Ateneo loss leads to the less complicated Final Four format.

The other two women's matches slated involve squads jostling for postseason positioning.

National University can free itself from the logjam and enter the playoffs with a win against Adamson at 12nn, while FEU can avoid being taken out of the race by defeating UP at 2pm.

The rivalry spills onto the men's division, with the Ateneo Blue Spikers facing the La Salle Green Spikers at 10am. Last season's losing finalists are aiming to assure themselves of at least a playoff for the twice to beat advantage.

The first game of the quintiple-header of volleyball games sees the Tiger Spikers of UST face UP at 8am. UST is seeking to join idle Adamson in a tie for second place.

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