Shakey's V-League 6th conference

Summer heats up with top-notch women's volleyball action as the Shakey's V-League unwraps its sixth season on April 19 featuring eight of the country's top collegiate teams at the Fil-Oil Arena (formerly The Arena) in San Juan City.

San Sebastian College seeks a second straight championship, former three-time champion University of Santo Tomas and former titlist Adamson set out for another crack at the crown, while Ateneo goes all out to end a long title-drought in the tournament sponsored by Shakey's Pizza.

Far Eastern U, Lyceum and St. Benilde have enhanced their respective rosters to contend for the first conference crown while University of the Philippines hopes to make a impact right on its first stint in the league organized by Sports Vision.

UP, the second top team in the UAAP, is taking over from La Salle, also a former three-time winner which decided to withdraw from the summer league after failing to come up with a competitive team.

The Tigresses and the Lady Archers have actually took a leave of absence in the first conference of the fifth season ruled by the Lady Falcons but both re-joined the league in the last conference topped by the Lady Stags.

The Lady Maroons, however, are expected to provide stiff challenge to the seven other teams, ensuring another spirited chase for top honors in the country's premier ladies volley league spread over two months.

Expect tight, interesting match-ups as tournament format calls for a single round robin elims with the top four advancing to the quarterfinals where they will be joined in by two provincial teams in Univ. of St. La Salle-Bacolod and Univ. of San Jose-Recoletos (Cebu).

All eight squads are allowed to have 14 players on its rosters with the 12 should be in the team lineup for the current season of their respective school leagues. All teams are allowed to tap a guest player and a reinforcement to backstop their respective rosters and further raise the level of competition.

The quarterfinal round is another single round robin phase with the top four advancing to the crossover semis with the No. 1 team clashing with No. 4 and the No. 2 colliding with No. 3 in two best-of-three series. Winners will dispute the crown in another best-of-three affair.

psep-online.com