Air Force derails Maynilad; Altas forces playoff

Philippine Air Force foiled Maynilad’s bid for an outright quarterfinal stint with a tough 25-23, 13-25, 25-22, 25-19 decision late Thursday, enabling Perpetual Help to force a playoff for the last berth in the Shakey’s V-League Open Conference at The Arena in San Juan.
Former MVP Aiza Maizo pumped in a game-high 25-hit output while fellow guest player Jennifer Manzano and mainstay Liza Deramos combined for 21 points as the Airwomen recovered from a second set setback to sweep the next two and closed out their elims campaign at 3-3. Already assured of a QF seat, Air Force still went for the win in a bid to bring that winning feeling to the next round where play is expected to get tougher.

The victory also came as a big gift for Perpetual, which had hoped for an Air Force victory to get a crack at the sixth and last quarters slot in the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza. The Altas, who lost their first five games, pounded out a 25-20, 25-23, 25-17 romp over Navy to tie the Water Dragons at 1-5, necessitating a playoff for the last berth in the season-ending conference of the league backed by Accel, Mikasa and Maynilad Water.

The sudden death will be played at 2 p.m. tomorrow in what promises to be another thrilling duel after Maynilad nipped Perpetual, 21-25, 12-25, 25-16, 26-24, 30-28, in a game that took two hours and 13 minutes to finish last Aug. 4.

Army and Navy, meanwhile, clash at 4 p.m. at the start of the quarters. Behind Nica Guliman and Joy Cases, the Water Dragons drew level with a convincing victory in the second set but failed to sustain their attack against the Airwomen’s solid net defense. Maynilad outhit Army, 55-41, but the Airwomen came through with nine blocks as against the Water Dragons’ four while scoring 13 points off the serve to fuel their bid in the third and fourth sets. Guliman finished with 20 hits while Cases had 19 for Maynilad.

Meanwhile, the San Sebastian-Army game will be shown on NBN 4 starting at 2 p.m. today and on on GMA-7′s international channels GMA Pinoy TV, GMA LifeTV and GMA News TV, according to the organizing Sports Vision.
The Air Force-Maynilad match will be telecast tomorrow (Sunday).