Smart-Army eyes QF berth

IMUS CITY — Smart-Army seeks to clinch the first quarterfinals berth in Pool B when it battles University of the East-Cherrylume in the Chooks to Go-Philippine Superliga (PSL) Invitational Conference that goes on Tour with an explosive triple-header Tuesday at the Imus Sports Center here.

Action starts at 7 pm with the Giga Hitters eyeing to finish the preliminary round winning their third out of four matches against winless Iron Lady Warriors who hold a 0-3 win-loss record in Pool B of this prestigious club tourney bankrolled by Isuzu, UCPB Gen and SOGO Hotel with ESPN5, Hyper HD and Aksyon TV as broadcast partners.

Prior to that, the Philippine Team takes on Cignal at 2 pm in the second out of three matches in this league that also has Senoh, Asics, Mikasa, Mueller and Grand Sport as technical sponsors.

The Nationals, however, will miss Jaja Santiago, Dindin Santiago-Manabat, Maika Ortiz and CJ Rosario, who led the depleted nine-woman team in beating Cocolife, 25-13, 25-17, 25-11, last Saturday.

The four stars will be playing for their mother club, Foton, that is looking to end the preliminary round with a win in Pool A against University of the Philippines-United Auctioneers (0-2) at 4:15 pm.

With that, expect national team head coach Shaq Delos Santos to have players this time as Mika Reyes, Ces Molina, Kianna Dy, Cha Cruz-Behag, Dawn Macandili, MJ Phillips and Rebecca Rivera are all expected to see action after missing their first game against Cocolife.

“Hopefully, we will be complete. We have to be ready and be in full force as much as possible because we are facing Cignal,” Delos Santos said.

Eyes will be on Smart-Army, which has been showing great chemistry between the veterans led by Ging Balse-Pabayo, Nene Bautista, Joanne Bunag and Tin Agno and the young University of Santo Tomas stars Dimdim Pacres, Alina Bicar, Tin Francisco and Caitlyn Viray that led to a 2-1 card to capture the second spot of Pool B.

Although getting the lone outright semifinal ticket in their group is not in their hands anymore, Giga Hitters coach Kungfu Reyes’ marching order is to finish strong and clinch the quarterfinal berth that will give them a chance to face the third seed of Pool A in a knockout match on July 19.

“It’s not in our hands anymore. Our only control is gaining the second place in our group and enter the quarterfinals,” said Reyes, who steered Army to an Invitational title run two years ago beating Thailand’s EST Cola.