AFTER finally finding their groove, F2 Logistics and Sta. Lucia Realty seek to extend their winning ways as they tackle separate foes today in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The Cargo Movers battle a struggling Cherrylume at 5 p.m., while the Lady Realtors face Cocolife in the 7 p.m. night cap of this prestigious club league bankrolled by Belo, Rebisco and Gold’s Gym with TV5 as official broadcast partner.
Also seeing action is powerhouse Petron, which will clash with Generika-Ayala in the 3 p.m. curtain-raiser of this tourney that also has Senoh, Mikasa, Mueller, Asics and Grand Sport as official broadcast partner.
Foton, a squad bannered by national team member Jaja Santiago, remains on top of Pool C with four straight victories following a massive four-set upset of powerhouse Cignal late Saturday.
The HD Spikers fell to the second spot with a 3-1 card, while the Blaze Spikers and the Life Savers are not far behind at 2-1.
In Pool D, F2 Logistics is at the ceiling with a 2-2 mark, while Sta. Lucia and Cocolife are knotted at 1-3 ahead of winless Cherrylume side.
That makes the next few games exciting as everybody is tipped to go all out to gain better ranking in the crossover quarterfinal round. The survivors of the quarters will figure in the semifinals before marching into the best-of-three finals showdown starting July 11.
For reigning champion F2 Logistics, punching a return trip to the finals remains very possible after hacking out convincing victories over Sta. Lucia and Cocolife, respectively.
Cargo Movers’ head coach Ramil de Jesus said they are looking to emerge on top of Pool C so they have to work doubly hard in their next two assignments in the preliminaries.
“Our goal is to be number one in our group,” said de Jesus, adding that they are slowly finding their groove after surrendering their first two matches to Petron and Cignal.
“The problem with us in our first two games was that my young players got intimidated. We should correct that. We should play with the same hunger and intensity like we did when we won the title last year.”
De Jesus is tipped to bank on national team members Aby Marano, Kim Fajardo and Dawn Macandili as well as rising stars Kim Dy, Desiree Cheng, Tin Tiamzon and reigning UAAP Most Valuable Player Majoy Baron.
Also expected to draw another good crowd in this explosive triple-header is the battle between the Lady Realtors and Asset Managers.
After dropping their first three assignments, the Lady Realtors posted a morale-boosting four-set conquest of the Iron Lady Warriors with Filipino-American spiker MJ Phillips doing damage.
Phillips torched Cherrylume with 23 kills and a pair of aces to finish with game-high 25 points.
“She’s still adjusting. But I’m expecting her to play like that in our next few games,” said Sta. Lucia coach Sammy Acaylar, who will rely on Lourdes Clemente, Janine Navarro, Pam Lastimosa and Danika Gendrauli against Michelle Gumabao, Cherylain Dizon and Wensh Tiu.
Games Today
(Filoil Flying V Center)
3 p.m. – Petron vs Generika-Ayala
5 p.m. – F2 Logistics vs Cherrylume
7 p.m. – Sta. Lucia vs Cocolife