The College of Saint Benilde Lady Blazers launch their back-to-back championship bid as they square off with the University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Lady Altas on Monday, November 14, at the start of the 92nd NCAA women’s volleyball competition at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Defending men’s titlist Perpetual Help Altas, on their part, open their own title-retention campaign as they clash with the CSB Blazers at the start of the men’s tournament on Wednesday at the same venue.
The Macky Carino-mentored Lady Blazers had come out of nowhere to stun the heavily-favored Grethcel Soltones and the San Sebastian Lady Stags in the finals last year to claim their very first championship.
Last season’s Finals MVP Jeanette Panaga and veteran Ranya Musa are back with hopes of helping the Taft school of get another shot at glory.
CSB, however, will have their hands full against a Perpetual Help side that has kept the core of their squad a season back, and who are coming off a strong second place finish to eventual-winners University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses in the University Games in Dumaguete City late last month. Moreover, Sammy Acaylar’s squad went through the entire pre-season circuit, including stints in the the PSL and the V-League.
The CSB-Perpetual Help duel is set at 2:00 pm., which will be preceded by an opening ceremony highlighted by a Saint Benilde’s dance group that has won a world hip-hop dance contest this year.
Perpetual Help, on their part, will be the team to watch this year as they will parade an almost-intact line up headed by the Taneo brothers Rey and Reylan, who were vital cogs in the Altas’ title run last year.
The reigning back-to-back MVP, power-hitting Soltones will also be out to win it all this season after two straight failed attempts as the Lady Stags jump-start their campaign against the Lady Chiefs, the champions two years ago, at 4:00 pm.
“Sana makuha na namin ito” said Soltones, who also won the MVP award in the 2016 Shakey’s V-League Open Conference early this year.
The league will employ a single-round format in the elimination round with the top four teams advancing to the Final Four.
The top-seeded squad will play the number four seed, while number two will face off with number three, with the top two teams enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage.
In case of an elimination round sweep, the sweeper automatically advances to the finals where it will enjoy a twice-to-beat edge, while the last three teams battle it out in the stepladder semis where the third and fourth ranked teams clash in a knockout duel, with the winner battling the second seed, which will enjoy a twice-to-beat advantage.
