Lady Troopers down Eagles, near sweep

Dahlia Cruz stepped up late in the fourth set with four hits as Philippine Army repulsed Ateneo, 25-16, 23-25, 25-14, 25-20, to move within a win from sweeping the elimination round of the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday. Cruz came through with two kills, a block and a service winner as the The Lady Troopers took six of the last 10 points to frustrate the Lady Eagles, who threatened last at 16-19, and book their fifth straight victory in tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

The win primed up Army for a battle royale with fellow quarterfinalist San Sebastian at the close of the single round elims tomorrow. Michelle Carolino, coming back strong from a five-hit, one-set performance in a similar four-set victory over Maynilad last Sunday, fired 16 kills this time and topscored with 20 hits while Mary Jean Balse added 18 points.

Joanne Buñag and Marietta Carolino added 11 hits each and Cruz finished with 10 points, including four blocks, for the Army spikers, who unloaded 63 attacks as against the Lady Eagles’ 36 to underscore their domination of the first conference champions. Alyssa Valdez and Fille Cainglet played true to form and combined for 30 hits but the Lady Troopers proved too much for the Lady Eagles, who closed out their elims campaign with four straight losses after back-to-back victories in the event backed by Accel, Mikasa and Maynilad Water.

Still, Ateneo made it to the next round at No. 5 with the sixth and last quarters berth a toss-up between Maynilad and Perpetual Help. The Army-Ateneo match will be shown on NBN 4 starting at 2 p.m. today (Wednesday) and on on GMA-7′s international channels GMA Pinoy TV, GMA LifeTV and GMA News TV, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

Rachel Ann Daquis, who starred in Army’s win over Maynilad with 17 hits in a three-set stint, turned in seven points despite playing only in the second set as coach Rico de Guzman continued to draw the best from his talent-laden squad. Angeline Gervacio, Gretchen Ho, Aerieal Patnongon and Jamenea Ferrer combined for 18 hits for Ateneo, which hopes to bounce back in the quarters where all teams will start from scratch.