MANILA, Philippines – The Shakey’s V-League suffered another major blow when University of Santo Tomas pulled out of the competition, joining De La Salle University in the sidelines and leaving the country’s premiere volleyball league without two of its most successful and popular teams.

The V-League Season 8 first conference will open on April 3 at The Arena in San Juan minus the Tigresses, the defending champion.

College of St. Benilde, a regular fixture at the cellar, on the other hand, was not invited by the league this conference because of its consistently poor performance, ending its sixconference stint littered by five eighth place and one sixth place finishes.

League commissioner Tony Liao announced UST’s withdrawal Tuesday barely a week after tournament director Ricky Palou announced that La Salle will not be partcipating for the fifth straight conference.

Both teams cited academic pressure as reason for their withdrawal and said they also need time for the players to recover from the grueling matches in the UAAP volleyball hostilities.

The two powerhouse squads lorded over the UAAP the past two years with La Salle reigning supreme this year by downing the España-based UST via a sweep of their best-of-three finals, 2-0, on Saturday.

UST, which is celebrating its 400th anniversary this year, actually skipped the previous conference after completing a rare “three-peat” run, but promised to comeback this conference.

“But UST coach Shaq Delos Santos said they will not join so the players can rest and have time for their studies,” Liao said.

The Tigresses and the Lady Archers are the top two teams of the league as they share nine titles between them with UST boasting of six since the league was established in 2004.

Liao admitted their absence may affect the league in terms of viewership, but remains positive and hopes that the re-entry two Visayan teams – University of St. La Salle-Bacolod and University of San Jose-Recoletos of Cebu, can offset the impact.

“I don’t think it will really make a big effect, but it could have been better if they join. In the past, they were also absent but the staging was successful,” he said.

As a result, the league will be left with nine teams. Aside from the Visayan teams, these are Ateneo, San Sebastian College, National University, Adamson University, Far Eastern University, Lyceum and University of Perpetual Help.

Francis Santiago, Manila Bulletin