‘Premier’ volley semis on today
By Kristel Satumbaga
Games Today
(The Arena, San Juan City)
10 a.m. – Cignal vs PLDT (Men’s)
1:45 p.m. – Creamline vs Pocari-Air Force (Women’s)
3:45 p.m. – PayMaya vs BanKo-Perlas (Women’s)
6 p.m. – Vice Co. vs Air Force (Men’s)
Creamline and PayMaya return from a three-week respite when they clash with separate opponents today at the start of the semifinal round in the 2018 Premier Volleyball League Reinforced Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.
The top-seeded Cool Smashers square off with the No. 4 Pocari-Air Force second-ranked Lady Jet Spikers at 1:45 p.m. while the High Flyers battle streaking No. 3 BanKo-Perlas Spikers at 3:45 p.m. in their respective best-of-three affairs.
Out to lead Creamline is national team standout and former Ateneo superstar Alyssa Valdez.
Both Creamline and PayMaya earned outright semis berths after topping the eliminations with 6-1 and 5-2 win-loss marks, leaving Pocari and BanKo-Perlas to fight it out with four other teams in the round-robin quarterfinals.
While the Cool Smashers and the High Flyers are fancied based on their rankings, the Lady Jet Spikers and the Perlas Spikers are hoping to ride on the momentum of their successful quarterfinal campaigns.
BanKo-Perlas, in particular, appears dangerous after an impressive seven-game winning run – thanks to the sterling showing of imports Lakia Bright and Jutarat Montripila.