Suns clip Eagles, share Shakey’s V-L lead

MANILA, Philippines - Cagayan Valley imposed its strength in the decider and dealt Ateneo another heartbreaker, hacking out a 16-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-27, 15-10 victory to force a three-way tie at the helm with PLDT Home Telpad and Army at the close o the elims phase of the Shakey’s V-League Season II Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

The Rising Suns surrendered a number of spikes to the power-hitting Ateneo side but came through with the hits that mattered most in the tightly-fought fifth set to pound out the victory, their sixth against a loss that kept them in step with the Turbo Boosters and the Lady Troopers heading to the quarterfinal round of the mid-season conference sponsored by Shakey’s starting Sunday.

Aiza Maizo fired 17 hits, Pau Soriano and Rose Vargas blasted 12 markers each and skipper Ma. Angeli Tabaquero added 11 points as the Rising Suns overcame Alyssa Valdez’ stirring 30-point game and inflcted the Lady Eagles another sorry setback after dropping a similar five-setter to the Army side the last time out.

Ateneo, which also drew 18 hits from Amy Ahomiro, 11 markers from Miren Gequillana and 10 points from Michelle Morente, outhit Cagayan, 63-44, but failed to translate this to victory as the Lady Eagles fell into a maze of errors that stymied their bid. After taking the opening set, the reigning UAAP champions made 11 errors in the second set and lost despite unleashing 14 attacks against Cagayan’s nine.

While the win augured well for Cagayan’s quarters drive, the loss dampened Ateneo’s chances as it fell to 2-4 and will need to sweep its matches in the next phase to stay in the Final Four race of the league backed by MIkasa and Accel.

In a duel of ousted, winless squads, UP hacked out a 25-23, 24-26, 25-12, 26-24 decision over PNP to finish seventh in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

Meanwhile, the UP-PNP match and the Cagayan-Ateneo face-off, being played at presstime, will be telecast today on GMA News TV Channel starting at 1 p.m., according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Pauline Araneta and Katherine Bersola hammered out a pair of 21-hit efforts while top hitter Nicole Tiamzon added 20 markers as the Lady Maroons recovered from a sorry setback in the second set with a dominating performance in the third before hanging tough to complete a 3-1 victory.

Frances Molina scored 23 hits while Charisse Perez stepped up to fire 13 markers for the Lady Patrollers who finished the single round elims among eight teams without a win.