Spikers’ Turf: Green Spikers face UP in final elimination match

The DLSU Green Spikers will look to end the preliminary round of the Spikers’ Turf on a high note as they take on the UP-Diliman Fighting Maroons this Wednesday, August 12, at 1 pm in the San Juan Arena.

In what will also be a match between UAAP member squads, the final match for both teams will also serve as a preview of the quarterfinals that will be played in the succeeding days.

After losing their first game to archrival Ateneo, the Green Spikers have put on a string of excellent performances to notch three straight victories. They won their last game against the CSB Blazers in four sets, 25-18, 25-19, 17-25, 25-15, thus culminating a run that puts them at second place in the standings. Raymark Woo top-scored for the team with 16 points, while Arjay Onia took home Player of the Game honors after scoring 15 on 13 spikes.

Similarly, UP has also been successful in their past few games. Their lone loss also came against the top seeded Blue Eagles, but other than that, they have also been victorious against the other teams in the bracket. In their most recent game, they trounced the DLSU-Dasmarinas Patriots in four sets, 23-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-22. Wendel Miguel spearheaded the Fighting Maroons’ attack with 19 points.

Since both teams are already set to advance to the quarterfinals with their 3-1 win-loss records, the upcoming game between DLSU and UP will only be a contest as to who will get the higher seeding in their bracket. The two other qualified teams are Ateneo, who leads the bracket with four wins and zero losses, and CSB, who currently has two wins and two losses.

Expected to lead the Green-and-White are team captain Woo, Onia, and Cris Dumago, who have all performed consistently well in the last few games. On the other hand, team captain Alfred Valbuena, Julius Raymundo, and Miguel are the players to look out for in UP.

Although the upcoming match will not make a huge impact in either team’s advancement in the tournament, the game will still hold importance for both teams. The winner will definitely boost their confidence entering the knockout rounds, while the other will have to look at what went wrong before the start of the next stage of the tournament.