Cagayan nails 3rd semis berth

The end of Cagayan Valley’s slump couldn’t have come at a better time.

Finally regaining their lethal form, the Lady Rising Suns dumped the Air Force Raiders, 28-26, 25-20, 25-20, yesterday to clinch the third Final Four berth in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 Open Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

The three-set win was all  the Lady Rising Suns needed to advance outright. And they made sure they avoided complications with their best performance yet in the quarterfinals.

Janine Marciano came to the fore with a 17-point output as the Rising Suns checked a four-game slide and improved to 7-5 in a tie with Air Force and Ateneo.

The loss drove Air Force into a do-or-die clash for the  last semifinal berth with a resurgent Ateneo squad tomorrow.

Army later shrugged off a lethargic opening set to seal the No. 1 seed in the Final Four with a 17-25, 25-17, 26-24, 25-15 over PLDT Home Telpad.

Rachel Ann Daquis and MJ Balse fired 13 points each as Army wound up with a 9-3 record to set up a semifinal clash with the No. 4 seed.

The Turbo Boosters, who fell to No. 2 with an 8-4 slate, will face the Lady Rising Suns in the semifinals.

Unable to sustain a strong start, PLDT also committed eight more errors with 28 and lost out in blocks, 5-10.

Atoning for her subpar performance in the earlier rounds, Marciano also drilled two aces for the Lady Rising Suns who got 13 points from Aiza Maizo.

Putting away the Raiders proved tougher than expected for the Rising Suns, who took control early in each set before showing resolve to quell late fightbacks in each set.

The Raiders produced eight blocks but got beaten on the spikes, 40-47, with Maika Ortiz and Judy Caballejo knocking in 15 hits apiece.

The Lady Rising Suns held Joy Cases to just six hits after the ace Air Force spiker dished out double digit outputs in all quarterfinal games.