MANILA, Philippines — University of St. La Salle-Bacolod and Southwestern University of Cebu, hoping to reach the semifinals for the first time, clash today with the winner getting an advantage towards reaching that goal at the start of the Shakey’s V-League quarterfinal round tomorrow at The Arena in San Juan City. Game time is 4 p.m.
The top two teams from the two groups of four will advance to a best-of-three semifinals series. Both La Salle Bacolod and Southwestern are on the brink of advancing where no Visayan team has gone before.
In three stints, USLS’s best finish was fifth, while SWU was seventh on its debut last year.
In the quarterfinals, both teams are grouped with National University and Far Eastern University, which booted out reigning six-time NCAA champ San Sebastian College with a four-set win last Sunday.
The unique format has given four teams the slight edge in the quarters with Ateneo and Perpetual Help gaining identical 1-0 slates in Group A for beating groupmates Lyceum and Adamson, respectively, in the elims.
USLS and SWU also tote 1-0 marks in Group B after toppling NU and FEU, respectively, in the previous round.
Between the two teams from the South, the Lady Stingers are favored to prevail owing to their impressive 3-1 mark in the eliminations capped by a stirring come-from-behind five-set triumph against University of Perpetual Help last week.
Francis Santiago, Manila Bulletin
