Petron guns for a sweep of the eliminations when it tackles a listless Sta. Lucia side in the Philippine Superliga All-Filipino Conference today at the Caloocan Sports Complex.
Battle kicks off at 4 p.m., with the Blaze Spikers looking to clinch their 10th victory in this women’s club tourney bankrolled by Isuzu, Sogo, Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller, UCPB Gen and Bizooku with Genius Sports as technical partner.
Also seeing action in this tourney that also has ESPN5, Hyper HD and Aksyon TV as broadcast partners are F2 Logistics, who will tighten its hold in the second spot when it clashes with Cocolife at 6 p.m.
In the Collegiate Grand Slam, University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas lock horns for the solo lead when they collide at 2 p.m., while Far Eastern University tackles Colegio San Agustin-Binan in the 12 noon appetizer.
Still, all eyes will be on Petron.
Parading the core of the squad that clinched the Grand Prix title early this year, the Blaze Spikers had a flawless start after racing to nine consecutive victories without any serious trouble.
Although they suffered some minor hiccups in their previous match against rival Foton, they still managed to complete a convincing win in four sets, sparking talks that they are out to duplicate a sweep of this conference three years ago.
But head coach Shaq Delos Santos said that’s the last thing on their minds right now.
“All we want is to finish strong,” said Delos Santos, who was part of the coaching staff when Petron emerged with a 13-0 mark en route to the All-Filipino crown.
“We have to be very careful because as the wins pile up, the pressure intensifies. This is a very competitive league. Other teams will beat us if we will not be at our best in our next game.”
Interestingly, the mentor responsible for Petron’s historic sweep will be calling the shots for the Lady Realtors.
Lady Realtors’ head coach George Pascua said they are coming in with no pressure so they will play their hearts out despite missing the services of Filipino-American MJ Philips and Chin Basas.
“We will fight until the very end,” said Pascua, whose wards nearly pulled off the impossible when they threatened Petron in their previous match last week. “It’s not yet over for us. We will do everything to pull off an upset.”