Motolite-Ateneo battles struggling Tacloban gals

Deanna Wong (right) is expected to play a key role for the Motolite-Ateneo Lady Eagles. —AUGUST DELA CRUZ

Now that Motolite-Ateneo has proven it can deal with powerhouses like the Alyssa Valdez-powered Creamline, it’s not a stretch to tag them heavy favorites against struggling Tacloban when both teams clash on Saturday in the Premier Volleyball League Open Conference at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Lady Eagles established a new league order when they stumped the Cool Smashers in Batangas last week.

Hardly in the championship discussion, Motolite-Ateneo snapped Creamline’s six-game winning run with that rousing victory.

“When we got to the court, we knew that we were facing Alyssa, that was our biggest motivation because we knew what she is capable of doing,” said Motolite-Ateneo’s veteran middle blocker Bea de Leon. “We have so much respect for her (Valdez) and that reminded us that we needed to be on our toes all the time,” added De Leon.

The Lady Eagles dismantled the Cool Smashers, 25-18, 25-20, 15-25, 23-25, 15-12, in a match which saw Valdez unload 32 points.

That’s bad news for a team drifting along this late in the conference like Tacloban, which will try to muster all it can in the 4 p.m. encounter.

PetroGazz will try to shake off rust after a three-week rest when it tackles Iriga-Navy in the other game set at 6 p.m.

The Angels, highly touted at the start of the conference, are at 4-3 after the first round of eliminations. But they will face the surging Lady Oragons, who are on a two-game winning streak for a 3-7 card.