Warm-up tiff for Shakey’s V-L finalists

System Tooth and Gum Care and Instituto Estetico Manila provide a glimpse of what to expect in their best-of-three men’s championship series when they square off today in the Shakey’s V-League Third Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Gametime is at 4 p.m. with the Volley Masters and Active Smashers, who both own 4-1 records, disputing the top seeding at the close of the elimination round.

Cagayan Valley warms up for its title showdown with Army as it battles also-ran Meralco in the women’s class at 6 p.m.

The Lady Rising Suns, who prevailed over the PLDT Home Turbo Boosters in straight sets last Sunday, advanced to the championship round after early finalist Army subdued PLDT in five sets last Tuesday.

It’s been a campaign to forget for Meralco, which lost its first five games. The Power Spikers have not played since Oct. 21 when they suffered a straight-set loss to the Turbo Boosters.

The Volley Masters rallied from a set down to nip Systema in five sets in the tournament opener with Jason Canlas, Karl dela Calzada and Jeffrey Jimenez joining forces.

Systema mentor Arnold Laniog hopes to avenge the first-round loss with Salvador Depante, Chris Antonio and Angelo Espiritu leading the charge for the Active Smashers.

Systema is coming off a straight-set win over Rizal Technological U in a game where Antonio finished with 14 hits. Cedelf P. Tupas