As mentioned in the previous blog post, 2017 Volleyball season has started. TV coverage of NCAA and UAAP here and there. News articles featuring our favorite teams and players flooding our social media timelines. There are just so many things going on and it’s so hard to keep up sometimes.
March 4, 2017 is date extraordinaire because three clashes are set to happen. No Volleyball fan should miss this. Read on as we discuss them below:
UST-FEU First Round Game
- Two schools with rich Volleyball history will square off for the first time in UAAP Season 79 Women’s Volleyball Tournament
- 29-time champions FEU Lady Tamaraws will face 15-time champions UST Golden Tigresses at 2pm
- Both teams are clearly under performing having been touted as finals contenders this season. Both are currently in the bottom half of the standings. As of Feb. 22, FEU is at 5th place while UST is at 6th
- Anything can still happen in the days leading to this important match up. Both teams still have two games each before the March 4 clash. They may snag a win or tally another loss against other teams which may affect their standings in this 8-team competition going into the second round
DLSU-Ateneo First Round Game
- The much anticipated battle of Green vs Blue school colors will happen at the MOA Arena and this early everybody is looking for ways to score a ticket
- Season 78 finalists Ateneo Lady Eagles are looking to get back at the DLSU Lady Spikers after their 4 set loss in Game 4 of the finals series last year
- It’s interesting to note that both teams are playing in a season post-Alyssa Valdez, Amy Ahomiro, post-Ara Galang, Mika Reyes, etc.
- New Volleyball queens for each team: Jho Maraguinot for Ateneo, and Kim Kianna Dy for La Salle
- As of Feb. 22, both teams are tied in second place having identical win-loss tally
PSL Invitational-UAAP First Round Games
- Clash of leagues
- Philippine Superliga Invitational will open on the same date as the UAAP double-header
- PSL announced that entrance will be free for all the fans who want to watch the opening games live at San Juan Arena
- Even if entrance is free at PSL, the expectation is that there will hardly be any fans who will watch live at San Juan Arena. Most people will watch the UAAP double-header even if they have to pay for a ticket and/or buy from scalpers
- What were the PSL officials thinking when they decided to hold the Invitational launch on the same day as Ateneo-La Salle game? Probably schedule constraints as this pocket Invitational tournament will run for a short period of time. Something to fill the gaps in their year-long schedule. But really? Still can’t believe they are going head-to-head with UAAP on this.
Fans who choose to stay at home will have their TV dials busy, for sure, if they want to catch both UAAP and PSL. Well, interest for Volleyball is high in the Philippines and stakeholders are fighting to get a share of that even if they have to clash schedules.
PILIPINAS VOLLEYBALL 