Anactaxia Trernai took over in a fiery charge in the decider, accounting for six of the first 10 points that the Vietnamese took in a rather straightforward fashion as the Troopers lost the ferociousness they showed in overpowering their fancied rivals in the first two sets.

The hosts failed to recover from that 0-10 hole in the race-to-15 fifth set although Rachel Daquis and Joanne Bunag tried to rally the Troopers to no avail as Tam Minh Hoang and Loan Thi Tran stepped up to deliver the last two points, including Tran’s spike that slipped past the hands of Mary Jean Balse.

Vietnam, which also beat Army in three in the elims of the four-team tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza, thus swept all its four matches, including one that mattered most.

Trernai, who led VIETSOVPETRO’s comeback in the third set, wound up with 24 points, including 22 attacks, while fellow Russian import Ekaterina Martynova backed her up with 17 points, mostly from running attacks coming off the back of the team’s setter.

Martynova later bagged the MVP honors in the tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel and Mikasa.

It was a sorry loss for the Troopers, who had appeared to have pinned down the Viets with their heads-up play in the first two sets, which they won in convincing fashions. But after Trernai and Martynova imposed their will in the third, the Shakey’s V-League Season 8 second conference champions wavered and reeled with botched plays and errors.

They nearly completed a big comeback in the fourth set as they battled back from seven points down to grab a 23-21 lead through the combination of Daquis, Bunag and Cristina Salak.

But Trernai came through with a kill and a service ace and after Daquis committed an error, Bunag hit it long, enabling the Viets to force a decider and gain the needed momentum.

“After we lost the first two sets, we did not stop. Everybody worked hard and they gave everything,” said the 24-year-old Trernai, who also took her hats off to the Troopers.

“The Philippine Army team is interesting to play. Their setter (Tina Salak) is good, she has great passes and she saw our flaws,” added Trernai, who took the Best Spiker plum.

Bunag finished with 17 hits while Daquis added 15, Marietta Carolino scored 13 and Michelle Carolino added 10. Salak and Balse combined for 17 points.

Earlier, Malaysia struggled past Ateneo in the first two sets but stamped its class in the third to essay a 25-22, 25-21, 25-13 victory and clinch third place honors.

The Malaysians broke away from a tight contest in the third with solid net defense and a series of kills from Yew Sook Ting as they took the last seven points to complete the straight-set victory.

The Eagles kept the game close at 12-15 and 13-16 in the third but after losing the next two points on a quick set by Malaysia and an error, the first conference champions of the Shakey’s V-League Season 8 failed to deliver coming off their final timeout.

The visiting team scored on a couple of kills, a service ace and blocks, the last against Fille Cainglet that wrapped up the one-hour and 14-minute encounter.

“The level of play here is tough and we came here to win. But we lost our first two games so this is a memorable win,” said Malaysian coach Mohd Shaili Sukor.

Malaysia also dropped its third game in the elims, bowing to powerhouse Vietnam, 13-25, 21-25, 26-24, 16-25, last Saturday.

But they came out strong in their second face-off with the Eagles as Yew, along with Teh Huei Hong and Tan Chiew Lee, spearheaded the Malaysians charge from start to finish.

Yew finished with 18 hits, including 14 attacks and three blocks, while Teh wound up with 13 and Tan added 10 for Malaysia, which also drew a combined 21-point output from Jocelyn Teoh, Tien Fei Wong, Kuan Lay Lim and Jay See Lee.

Alyssa Valdez came away with 15 kills for a 17-point production while Cainglet added 12 points for the Eagles, who simply lost steam in the end. Dzi Gervacio scored seven points while Gretchen Ho and Jem Ferrer had four and two hits, respectively. -DN

The Malaysians broke away from a tight contest in the third with solid net defense and a series of kills from Yew Sook Ting as they took the last seven points to complete the straight-set victory.

The win thus netted Malaysia third place in the four-team tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza as it avenged its tough five-set loss to Ateneo last Friday.

The Eagles kept the game close at 12-15 and 13-16 in the third but after losing the next two points on a quick set by Malaysia and an error, the first conference champions of the Shakey’s V-League Season 8 failed to deliver coming off their final timeout.

The visiting team scored on a couple of kills, a service ace and blocks, the last against Fille Cainglet that wrapped up the one-hour and 14-minute encounter.

“The level of play here is tough and we came here to win. But we lost our first two games so this is a memorable win,” said Malaysian coach Mohd Shaili Sukor.

Malaysia also dropped its third game in the elims, bowing to powerhouse Vietnam, 13-25, 21-25, 26-24, 16-25, last Saturday.

But they came out strong in their second face-off with the Eagles as Yew, along with Teh Huei Hong and Tan Chiew Lee, spearheaded the Malaysians charge from start to finish.

Yew finished with 18 hits, including 14 attacks and three blocks, while Teh wound up with 13 and Tan added 10 for Malaysia, which also drew a combined 21-point output from Jocelyn Teoh, Tien Fei Wong, Kuan Lay Lim and Jay See Lee.
Alyssa Valdez came away with 15 kills for a 17-point production while Cainglet added 12 points for the Eagles, who simply lost steam in the end. Dzi Gervacio scored seven points while Gretchen Ho and Jem Ferrer had four and two hits, respectively.

The four-day event, organized by Sports Vision in its continuing effort to develop the sport and at the same time gauge the progress of local players, was backed by Accel and Mikasa.

The Troopers played just well enough to eliminate the Lady Eagles, getting the job done in 64 minutes via a 25-13, 25-9, 25-17 romp that sent them into a winner-take-all match with the Vietnamese for the crown.

Vietnam, with Russian Ekaterina Martynova scoring 18 hits and Tran Thi Loan and Nguyen Thi Huong combining for 26 points, completed its sweep of the single round elims, thwarting Malaysia, 25-13, 25-21, 24-26, 25-16, in the other game.

The Shakey’s V-League Season 8 second conference champions actually pounced on the sidelining of Ateneo’s top hitter Alyssa Valdez, who sustained a shoulder injury and had to cut short her stint after scoring three points.

Vietnam, powered by two Russian hitters, clinched the first finals seat in the four-team tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza as early as last Friday when it subdued Army, 25-20, 25-23, 25-23.

But the Troopers vented their ire on the Eagles, whom they dominated from start to finish to prime up for their much-awaited clash with the Viets in the finals of the event organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel and Mikasa.

They dispute the crown at 4 p.m. today while Ateneo and Malaysia battle for third place honors at 2 p.m.

Matches can be viewed on live streaming at www.v-league.ph while ringside, lower box and general admission tickets are pegged at P250, P150, and P50, respectively.

Despite their straight-set setback to Vietnam, Army coach Rico de Guzman said the Troopers have what it takes to beat the Viets but stressed the need for his wards to play a more aggressive game and minimize their errors.

“If not for our errors, we could have beaten them (Viets),” said de Guzman. “But we must double our efforts and we have to be more aggressive, especially in blocking.”

Marietta Carolino, held to just six hits by the Viets Friday, came through with six blocks against the Eagles and went on to topscore for the Troopers with 11 points.

Former Shakey’s V-League MVPs Nerissa Bautista and Mary Jean Balse each scored nine points while Rachel Ann Daquis added eight hits and Michelle Carolino chipped in six points for Army.

Fille Cainglet dished out a game-high 13-point output but failed to get the needed support from the rest of the squad with Dzi Gervacio struggling for four points after firing 14 hits in a thrilling five-setter win over the Malaysians the other day.

All matches are aired on NBN 4 on a delayed basis with the first game to be telecast in the night of the same day. The second match will be shown the following day. -DN

Russian import Ekaterina Martynova made 12 kills after scoring 14 against Ateneo in Thursday’s opener while Tran Thi Loan backed her up with 11 points, including eight attacks, as the Vietnamese swept their first two matches and made it to the finals of the four-team tournament.

Army’s loss, coupled by Ateneo’s thrilling come-from-behind 13-25, 22-25, 25-19, 29-27, 15-12 win over Malaysia in the first game, rendered today’s encounter by the two local teams at the close of the elims a knockout duel for the other finals berth.

Anactaxia Trernai, the other Russian reinforcement, banged in a kill that shattered the 21-all count in the third then the Vietnamese took three of the next five points, including on two Army errors to complete the straight-set win.

“Our defense is very good. But it’s not an easy game,” said Trernai through an interpreter. “We wanted to win every game (in the tournament).”

Rachel Ann Daquis stepped up for Army to fire 16 hits while Michelle Carolino and Mary Jean Balse added 11 and 10 points, respectively, for the Troopers, who were in sharp form in demolishing the Malaysians the other day.

Earlier, Ateneo fought back from two sets down to stun Malaysia by sweeping the next three frames, including an extended fourth-set escape for a 13-25, 22-25, 25-19, 29-27, 15-12 victory in the event sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

Alyssa Valdez, Fille Cainglet and Dzi Gervacio combined in the grueling fourth set battle and the Lady Eagles took charge in the decider to snatch the win that put the Loyola-based squad back in the title hunt after a poor showing against powerhouse Vietnam in the opener of the four-day tournament backed by Accel and Mikasa.

Valdez uncorked a 27-hit performance after struggling with 11 points against the Vietnamese, who dominated the Shakey’s V-League Season 8 first conference champions with a 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 win the other day. Valdez capped his big game with four blocks and two service aces.

Cainglet also rebounded big from a paltry nine-point output, helping Valdez in offense with 20 kills for a 22-point total while Gervacio and Gretchen Ho added 14 and 10 hits, respectively, for Ateneo, which evened its card to 1-1.

“We took advantage of Malaysia’s poor reception and it’s a good thing that my players dished out a good game,” said Ateneo coach Roger Gorayeb in Filipino.

Yew Sook Ting unloaded 26 hits while Jocelyn Teoh added 23 and The Huei Hong and Wong Fei Tien combined for 23 points for Malaysia, which virtually dropped out of the title race with a 0-2 card.

For a while, the Malaysians looked headed for a win after dominating the Eagles in the opener before holding sway to wrap the second. But the Loyola-based squad came out strong in the third and averted a shutout then outlasted their rivals in the fourth to send the match into a decider.

Malaysia actually moved within match point at 26-25 in the fourth on a Lim Lay Kuan kill but lost its momentum on back-to-back wide hits by Teoh and Wong, enabling the Eagles to steal the set.

The hosts took seven of the first nine points in the decider and then fended off a series of Malaysia rallies with Gervacio scoring on a tip-in and Cainglet coming through with a kill to wrap up the two-hour contest.

Meanwhile, matches can be viewed on live streaming at www.v-league.ph while ringside, lower box and general admission tickets are pegged at P250, P150, and P75, respectively.

All matches are aired on NBN 4 on a delayed basis with the first game to be telecast in the night of the same day. The second match will be shown the following day.

Alyssa Valdez, Fille Cainglet and Dzi Gervacio combined in the grueling fourth set battle and the Lady Eagles took charge in the decider to complete the stirring come-from-behind victory that put the Loyola-based squad back in the title hunt after a poor showing against powerhouse Vietnam in the opener of the four-day tournament Thursday.

Valdez uncorked a 27-hit performance after struggling with 11 points against the Vietnamese, who dominated the Shakey’s V-League Season 8 first conference champions with a 25-15, 25-16, 25-17 win the other day. Valdez capped his big game with four blocks and two service aces.

Cainglet also rebounded big from a paltry nine-point output, helping Valdez in offense with 20 kills for a 22-point total while Gervacio and Gretchen Ho added 14 and 10 hits, respectively, for Ateneo, which evened its card to 1-1.

“We took advantage of Malaysia’s poor reception and it’s a good thing that my players dished out a good game,” said Ateneo coach Roger Gorayeb in Filipino.

But to get a shot at the title in the tournament among four teams, Ateneo will have to hurdle Philippine Army in today’s close of the single round elims sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

The Troopers, who also beat the Malaysians in three Thursday, were still playing with the Viets at presstime in a duel for the first finals slot in the event organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel and Mikasa.

Yew Sook Ting unloaded 26 hits while Jocelyn Teoh added 23 and The Huei Hong and Wong Fei Tien combined for 23 points for Malaysia, which virtually dropped out of the title race with a 0-2 card.

For a while, the Malaysians looked headed for a win after dominating the Eagles in the opener before holding sway to wrap the second. But the Loyola-based squad came out strong in the third and averted a shutout then outlasted their rivals in the fourth to send the match into a decider.

Malaysia actually moved within match point at 26-25 in the fourth on a Lim Lay Kuan kill but lost its momentum on back-to-back wide hits by Teoh and Wong, enabling the Eagles to steal the set.

The hosts took seven of the first nine points in the decider and then fended off a series of Malaysia rallies with Gervacio scoring on a tip-in and Cainglet coming through with a kill to wrap up the two-hour contest.

Meanwhile, matches can be viewed on live streaming at www.v-league.ph while ringside, lower box and general admission tickets are pegged at P250, P150, and P50, respectively.

All matches are aired on NBN 4 on a delayed basis with the first game to be telecast in the night of the same day. The second match will be shown the following day.

Anactaxia Trernai gave a sample of what to expect for the Troopers by unleashing a 12-attack performance while Ekaterina Martynova topscored with 14 hits, including three blocks.

Nguyen Thi Ngoan also scored 12 points while Nguyen Thi Huong and Tran Thi Loan added nine hits apiece to underscore Vietnam’s balanced offensive sock.

Alyssa Valdez and Dzi Gervacio fired 11 hits apiece for the Lady Eagles, who could not get their offense going as Fille Cainglet struggled to finish with nine hits.

Michelle and Marietta Carolino rammed in 12 kills apiece while the Troopers scored nine points off the serve, including five from Mary Jean Balse, to complete the straight-set romp that augured well in their campaign in the short tournament among four teams.

Michelle added two blocks for a 15-hit production while Marietta and Balse ended up with 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Troopers, who looked sharp and ready for another title crack after dominating the Shakey’s V-League second conference recently.

The Malaysians struggled with their reception and floor defense and failed to neutralize the Carolino sisters, who stepped their attacks on both sides to prime themselves up for an expected explosive showdown with the fancied Vietnam side in today’s resumption of the four-day event sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

Vietnam, powered by two Russian hitters and five-time SEA Games runner-up, was playing with Ateneo, winner of the Shakey’s V-League first conference, at presstime.

Teh Huei Hong topscored for Malaysia with nine hits, including eight kills, but the rest groped for form in the face of the Troopers’ unrelenting attack with Jocelyn Teoh,, Yew Sook Ting, Tan Chiew Lee, Wong Fei Tien and Lim Lay Kuan combining for 21 points.

Rachel Ann Daquis added eight hits for the Troopers, who also drew four points apiece from Joanne Buñag and Cristina Salak, who held the team together with 27 excellent sets. Salak also scored three service aces.

Meanwhile, the organizing Sports Vision said matches can be viewed on live streaming at www.v-league.ph while ringside, lower box and general admission tickets are pegged at P250, P150, and P50, respectively.

All matches will be aired on NBN 4 on a delayed basis with the first game to be telecast in the night of the same day. The second match will be shown the following day.

The Troopers sized their rivals in the early going but quickly asserted their might midway in the opening set although they needed a pair of strong finishing kicks in the next two frames to fashion out the 69-minute victory.

The four teams will clash in a single round-robin format with the top two clashing for the crown and the two others will dispute third place honors in the event being considered to be integrated into the Shakey’s V-League calendar starting next year.

The short, single round tournament gives the compact four-team field no other choice but to pour it all out in each set of each game to get a crack at the championship set Sunday.

The Troopers are raring to go, ready to slug it out with a Malaysian team powered by former SEA Games campaigners, members of the national team and a number of junior standouts.

“We really had to prepare for this tournament, especially against Vietnam, which is very strong,” said Army coach Rico de Guzman.

But before they tackle the Vietnamese on Friday, the Troopers hope to hurdle the Malaysians in their 2 p.m. encounter, kicking off the event sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and backed by Accel and Mikasa.

Matches can be viewed on live streaming at www.v-league.ph, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Vietnam, runner-up to Thailand in the last five stagings of the SEA Games, has been installed as the pre-tournament favorite with a roster bolstered by two Russian six footers in Anactaxia Trernai and Ekaterina Martynova.

Ateneo, champion of the Shakey’s V-League Season 8 first conference, will get a first crack at the Viets at 4 p.m. with coach Roger Gorayeb pinning his hopes on the power-hitting duo of Alyssa Valdez and Fille Cainglet and mainstays Gretchen Ho, Dzi Gervacio, Dennise Lazaro, Jem Ferrer and Ieal Patnongon.

The Troopers, meanwhile, boast of a number of Shakey’s V-League MVPs, headed by former national team members Michelle Carolino and Mary Jean Balse, Nerissa Bautista and the talented Rachel Ann Daquis, making them a strong title contender.

Backing up the squad, which dominated the second conference of this year’s Shakey’s V-League, are Cristina Salak, Marietta Carolino, Patricia Siasan-Torres, Ma. Theresa Iratay and Jennelyn Reyes.

Malaysia will be led by former SEA Games players Teon Kwan Kee, Lim Lay Kuan, Josephine Goh and Nur Haizreen, who are expected to provide the experience and poise for the team, which includes national players Tan Chiew Lee, Jessie Lee, Ursula Moh and Yew Sook Ting and junior standouts Low Wan Jin, The Huei Hoing, Wong Fei Tien and Ho Xiao Hui.

Trernai and Martynova, on the other hand, hope to draw solid back up from an equally talented Vietnam players, led by ace setter and former national team mainstay Pham Thu Ha

The four teams will clash in a single round robin format with the top two clashing for the crown and the two others will dispute third place honors in the event being considered to be integrated into the Shakey’s V-League calendar starting next year.

All matches will be aired on NBN 4 on a delayed basis with the first game to be telecast in the night of the same day. The second match will be shown the following day. -DN

Officials behind the success of the pioneering women’s volleyball tournament in the country admitted that the proposal is currently being considered in the light of the warm reception being given to the inaugural staging of the four-day club championship that features the national teams of Vietnam and Malaysia.

V-League Season 8 champions Philippine Army and Ateneo de Manila complete the four-team cast that formally kicks off tomorrow with an exciting doubleheader at The Arena in San Juan.

“Right now, we’re trying to restructure the Shakey’s V-League and see how we can incorporate the SEA club championship in our year-long calendar,” bared Moying Martelino, chairman of the organizing Sports Vision, during the PSA weekly Forum yesterday at Shakey’s U.N. Ave.

Since the V-League 1st conference is being held every summer, Martelino said they are eyeing to make it an all-school competition, while the second conference will feature a mixture of invited club teams and schools which are willing to participate as in the case of Season 8’s final offering where corporate squads such as Maynilad, Air Force and Army saw action.

“And then we’ll cap off the year with an invitational tournament pitting our local teams opposite club champions from Southeast Asia,” added Sports Vision president Ricky Palou, who was also present during the session presented by Smart, PAGCOR, Outlast Battery, and Shakey’s, together with tournament commissioner Tony Boy Liao and Philippine Army coach Rico De Guzman.

“It’s good for our teams to be exposed in this kind of tournament,” Liao stressed.

Martelino expressed his gratitude to Shakey’s for making the club invitational possible, which he said cost one of the country’s largest pizza restaurant chain around three million pesos for its staging.

“So let’s see what happens next year,” the Sports Vision president added.

Both foreign teams are already here in the country, arriving one after the other late Tuesday afternoon.

Vietnam, silver medal winner in the 2009 SEA Games in Laos, will be reinforced by two Russian players in Anactaxia Trernai and Ekoterina Martynova.

“Kailangan talagang pag-handaan ito, lalo na `yung Vietnam kasi sobrang lakas nila,” said De Guzman, whose Army squad will banked on former national team members Cristina Salak, Michelle and Marietta Carolino, Mary Jean Balse, and guest players Rachel Ann Daquis, Jennelyn Reyes, and Nerissa Bautista.

Handled by coach Roger Gorayeb, Ateneo is leaning on stalwarts Alyssa Valdez, Fille Cainglet, Jamenea Ferrer, and Angeline Marie Gervacio.

Opening day games will have Army taking on Malaysia at 2 p.m., followed by the tussle between Vietnam and Ateneo (4 p.m.).

The following day, it’s Ateneo against Malaysia (2 p.m.) and Army opposite Vietnam (4 p.m.), before Ateneo clashes with Army (2 p.m.) and Vietnam battles Malaysia (4 p.m.) on the final day of the preliminaries.

A single battle for third place, and the winner-take-all Finals are set on Sunday. -DN

Power-hitters Anactaxia Trernai and Ekoterina Martynova will anchor the fancied VIETSOPETRO team that finished second in the National League back home, confident of its chances in the four-day tournament put up by Shakey’s Pizza to further develop the sport.

The team is actually missing two of its members, who are with the national squad training in China for next month’s SEA Games. But the Vietnamese remain as talent-laden as ever with ace setter and former national team mainstay Pham Thu Ha at the helm.

On the other hand, Malaysia will be led by former SEA Games players Teon Kwan Kee, Lim Lay Kuan, Josephine Goh and Nur Haizreen, who are raring to slug it out with top Filipino teams Philippine Army and Ateneo in the event organized by Sports Vision and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

The Vietnamese and Malaysian delegations are set to arrive today on board separate flights.

Kee, Kuan, Goh and Haizreen are expected to provide the experience and poise for Malaysia, which also boasts of national players Tan Chiew Lee, Jessie Lee, Ursula Moh and Yew Sook Ting and junior standouts Low Wan Jin, The Huei Hoing, Wong Fei Tien and Ho Xiao Hui.

They will be up against the tough Vietnam team and local squads Army and Ateneo, which split the two titles disputed in the recent Shakey’s V-League Season 8.

“This is going to be an exciting, action-packed tournament,” said Moying Martelino of the organizing Sports Vision. “Our teams are ready but they will be in for a tough outing against these foreign squads.”

The four teams will clash in a single round robin format with the top two clashing for the crown and the two others will dispute third place honors. Two matches will be held each day starting at 2 p.m.

The other match is set at 4 p.m.

All matches will be aired on NBN 4 on a delayed basis with the first game to be telecast in the night of the same day. The second match will be shown the following day.

Matches can be viewed on live streaming at www.v-league.ph -DN