Source: Philippine Star
MANILA, Philippines - The country’s top junior and future volleyball stars take center stage beginning today as they pit skills and talent in the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball League which unwraps its seventh season at The Arena in San Juan.
Three matches, including the featured 11 a.m. duel between former champion University of the East and top contender St. Francis of Assisi-Bacoor, usher in the new season of the league long regarded as the spawning ground of volleyball talents in the country.
In fact, the league’s top players anchored the RP team’s campaign in the 2008 Asian Girls Championships.
“Six players from that team came from UST, three from Colegio San Agustin, one from Bacolod and one from Holy Family School,” said Freddie Infante of the organizing Metro Sports. “This was both Shakey’s and Metro Sports’ contribution to the Philippine Volleyball Foundation as partners in developing present and future volley players.”
Diliman Preparatory School and University of the Philippines Integrated School kick off hostilities at 10 a.m. in a duel of the Katipunan-based squads while Imus Institute battles Unida Christian College at 1 p.m.
Hope Christian School, which beat San Antonio de Padua to capture last year’s diadem, will not see action until April 22 when it collides with Angeles University Foundation.
But action is expected to be fierce right on opening day with the UE spikers raring to go along with the five other squads as they try to gain the momentum early in the tournament serving as the Luzon leg of a countrywide league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.
Fourteen teams have been divided into three groups with Hope CS leading Bracket A, which includes AUF, Angelicum College, Valenzuela Nat’l High School and St. Scholastica’s College and San Antonio de Padua heading Bracket B composed of UPIS, UCC, Imus and DPS.
UE is grouped with UST, Miriam College and University of Perpetual Help-Laguna in Bracket C of the tournament backed by Toby’s, Dunkin’ Donuts, Mikasa and Asics.
They will play 30 elimination round games in the best-of-three, race-to-25-point format with the top two teams in the Luzon leg going to Tacloban City where they would join the best teams from Bacolod, Cebu, Davao, Iloilo and the host city to dispute the national championship in the Tournament of Champions.
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