HEAVYWEIGHTS TMS Philippine Army and Cagayan Valley go for back-to-back wins when they collide on Friday in the Philippine Super Liga Grand Prix at The Arena in San Juan.
The Lady Troopers, winners of the Super Liga first conference, overcame a shaky start and defeated new team RC Cola, 19-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-16, in their opening game and are hoping to play steadier this time as they lean on veteran setter Tina Salak to the Lady Rising Suns in their 2 p.m. match up.
Cagayan Valley, on the other hand, went off to a fine start and won in straight sets over Petron.
"Ang advantage namin si Tina. Kasi kung anong lakas ng spiker pero hindi mabigay ng setter wala rin. Beterano na si Tina at madiskarte," said Army coach Rico de Guzman.
Army also got added boost from Thai reinforcement Luangtonglang Wanitchaya, although De Guzman said they had a messy opening match because of communication problems with Watchinaya and Japanese import Yuki Murakoshi of Japan.
"Ang Cagayan kasi mahirap talunin pero mas malakas kami sa opensa dahil kay Watchinaya," he said.
The Lady Rising Suns are on a 17-game winning streak dating back to the Shakey's V-League Season 10 Open Conference, but coach Nes Pamilar says stretching the run to 18 games won’t be a walk in the park.
"Ang kinuha nila na import eh kung ano ang kulang nila sa team. Balanse ang team nila at solid ang line up nila," said Pamilar.
Petron and Cignal, losers in their opening matches, try to score their first win in the tournament when they clash at 4 p.m. In the men's division, Systema and Maybank collide at 6 p.m.
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