POCARI Sweat and BaliPure clash Saturday in a potential semifinal match-up while Customs primes up for the Final Four against also-ran Air Force in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Reinforced Conference at the Philsports Arena.
Though assured of berths in the next round, the Lady Warriors and the Purest Water Defenders are still expected to pour it all out in their 4 p.m. encounter with a crack at No. 1 at stake in the penultimate elims playdate of the season-ending conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.
Toting identical 4-1 cards, Pocari and BaliPure could still end up at the top after the elims with frontrunning UST just a shade ahead at 5-1.
Customs, on the other hand, is fancied to get past ousted Air Force at 6 p.m. and close out its campaign in the league backed by Mikasa as official ball and Accel as official outfitter at 5-2.
The Transformers-Jet Spikers clash will be shown live over ABS-CBN Sports + Action Channel 17 or 23 and via streaming on www.sports.abs-cbn.com and via streaming on www.v-league,ph, according to the organizing Sports Vision.
The Pocari-BaliPure duel, however, will be aired on a delayed basis.
The semis ranking remains unclear with the winner in the Pocari-BaliPure duel joining UST at No. 1. A Pocari victory will set the stage for a slambang final elims match between the Lady Warriors and the Tigresses on Wednesday.
One streak will actually be snapped in the Pocari-BaliPure clash with both teams racking up four straight victories each after dropping their respective opening game assignments.
“We just want to try to win as many games as we can going to the semis and maybe gain some momentum,” said Pocari coach Rommel Abella, whose wards also toppled the Water Defenders in the semifinals of the Open Conference early this year before beating the Air Force Jet Spikers in the finals to claim the crown on their first very stint in the country’s premier women’s volley league.
Imports Breanna Lee and Kay Kacsits of Pocari gear up for a showdown with BaliPure reinforcements Katherine Morrell and Kaylee Manns with locals of both squads also expected to play a key role in this crucial matchup.
Meanwhile, Instituto Estetico Manila and Army duel at 10:30 a.m. whle Cignal and 100 Plus tangle at 12:30 p.m. in a pair of matches in the Spikers’ Turf Season 2 Third Conference, also at Philsports.
Games today
10:30 a.m. – IEM vs Army (Spikers)
12:30 p.m. – 100 Plus vs Cignal (Spikers)
4 p.m. – Pocari vs BaliPure (V-League)
6 p.m. – Air Force vs Customs (V-League)