MANILA, Philippines–ADAMSON SEEKS to wrap up its second crown when it shoots for a sweep of San Sebastian-Excelroof in Game 2 of their best-of-three Shakey’s V-League Season 7 Second Conference finals series at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The Lady Falcons can join University of Santo Tomas and De La Salle University in the elite group of teams with at least two V-League crowns each with a victory in their 4 p.m. duel with the Lady Stags.
UST which skipped the tournament, already owns six titles, while La Salle has three.
“We can finish this on Sunday (today),” a confident Adamson coach Dulce Pante said after her Lady Falcons survived a tough-setter over the Lady Stags in Game 1 last Thursday.
The Lady Falcons leaned on their resolute defense again in hacking out a thrilling 25-13, 25-17, 30-32, 21-25, 15-13 victory, their third win over the Lady Stags in the tournament.
San Sebastian coach Roger Gorayeb is optimistic that the Lady Stags can find a way to extend the series to a deciding game on Thursday.
“We must play aggressive from start to finish, we couldn’t afford to play like we did in Game One because we know Adamson is going to make us pay,” said Gorayeb.
The Lady Stags played sluggish in the first two sets, before coming alive in the next two frames.
But they fell short in the fifth with Nerissa Bautista and Angela Benting delivering decisive hits for the Lady Falcons.
More than Bautista’s attacking prowess, blocking has been Adamson’s biggest weapon against the Lady Stags who boast of the strongest hitters in the league in Jeng Bualee, Suzanne Roces and Joy Benito.
Benting has also been a rock on defense, covering a lot of ground on the backline especially when Bualee attacks.
Michelle Laborte, the lead blocker for the Philippine Team earlier in the decade, provides the Lady Falcons with a strong defensive presence, while serving as mentors to upstarts Pau Soriano and Gail Martin.
Adamson scored 16 points off blocks in Game 1 with Laborte and Soriano combining for 11.
San Sebastian is also gunning for a second crown in its seventh finals appearance.