POCARI Sweat shoots for the second and last outright semis berth as it tangles with cellar dweller Air Force today at the close of the double-round elims in the Premier Volleyball League at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
The Lady Warriors should have no problem going for their seventh win in 10 games and making it two-in-row against the Jet Spikers, whom they swept in the first round last May 6.
Coach Rommel Abella is also expected to try out new combinations he could use and rely on when the going gets tough in the Final Four of the tournament organized by Sports Vision although the defending champions will miss reinforcement Edina Selimovic, out for the rest of the season with a hamstring injury she suffered in their last game against Creamline last weekend where she hammered in 10 kills and scored four blocks.
Gametime is at 1 p.m.
BaliPure gained the first automatic semis entry with a come-from-behind 25-20, 23-25, 19-25, 25-18, 15-7 victory over Creamline late Wednesday, hiking its output to a league-leading 7-2 card.
The Water Defenders close out their elims campaign against the Power Smashers (5-4) at 4 p.m.
Despite the setback, its sixth against only three wins, Creamline remains in the semis hunt since the other four teams, including the Power Smashers, Perlas (5-4) and Air Force, will still play in a round-robin quarterfinals with their elims records scratched.
The top two will join the outright semifinalists with the No. 1 seed taking the No. 4 team and the Nos. 2 and 3 squads clashing in a pair of best-of-three duels. The winners will dispute the crown in another best-of-three affair.
Creamline and Perlas duel at 6:30 p.m. in a tune-up for their quarters campaign where every game will count in their respective semis bids.
Meanwhile, Air Force takes on winless Café Lupe in the lone men’s match of the league backed by Mikasa and Asics at 10 a.m.
Games can be viewed live via streaming on www.abs-cbn.comlivestream/pvl.
Games today
10 a.m. – Air Force vs Café Lupe (men’s)
1 p.m. – Air Force vs Pocari Sweat (women’s)
4 p.m. – Power Smashers vs BaliPure (women’s)
6:30 p.m. – Creamline vs Perlas (women’s)