It’s time once again for the Shakey’s V-League tournament to take center stage. Its 2nd Conference for Season 6 is fast approaching. I think it should commence sometime this October? Last time around, it was the University of Santo Tomas that captured the crown during the 1st conference. The Tigresses defeated then defending champs San Sebastian College-Recoletos in 3 sets.

Balse-less UST

After taking a look at the latest Shakey’s V-League team line up info, looks like UST will be missing the services of their MVP player Mary Jean Balse. (To my initial disbelief, I did go over the list at least 3x before it dawned to me that UST will really be “Balse-less” this time around). She will be replaced by running spike specialist Roxanne Pimentel as UST’s guest player.

Hmm, Rox Pimentel… that name really sounded very familiar. After doing some Google search, I learned that she was a part the RP Women’s Volleyball Team who defeated team Tonga (it’s a country!) during the 2006 FIVB Women’s World Championships. She was the team captain. I even found this very interesting photo of Rox Pimentel along with some famous volley belles:

Yup, she’s the tall one at the center. And I thought Maureen Penetrante was the tallest. Who are the other players in the photo? (Here’s another photo that is more interesting because of the placement of the hands… what’s up with that… see for yourself!) Note: Photos are Riki Shofa’s properties… TM!

Here are some other interesting stuff I noticed in the team lineup:

1. UST will remain to be one of the top teams with veteran players like Aiza Maizo, Rhea Dimaculangan as setter, and guest player Rox Pimentel.
2. Crowd favorite Angeli Tabaquero is back in the line up for UST. But no Denise Tan though… dammit! Maybe we’ll see her as a court side reporter instead.
3. San Sebatian will start the conference without any guest players. I didn’t see Louann Latigay and Rysabelle Devanadera in the lineup. Veteran coach Roger Gorayeb will still handle the Lady Stags.
4. Interestingly, the Lady Eagles are called “Team Ateneo-Oracare”. Charo Soriano will remain as the team’s guest player. Watch out for rising star Gretchen Ho. Mic Mic Laborte remains at the sideline as their assistant coach.
5. As for Far Easter University, queen of volleyball Rachel Ann Daquis will still play for the team. Macaila Irish Morada is no longer playing. Anne Taganas, Shai Gonzalez, and the rest of the veteran players will need to step up to fill in her shoes.

Here’s the Shakey’s V-League Season 6 (2nd Conference) Team Lineups as of Oct. 5/09. Info courtesy of TMX Sports:

Note: Please confirm your attendance by emailing group coordinator Abbie Manlapaz at volleyballgamedate@gmail.com. To those bringing friends, inform the group how many players you will be bringing for head count. You can also confirm via this Facebook event.

Miss playing volleyball? You can join the Volleyball Game Date group every Saturdays. To receive email invites so the group can inform you in advance whenever there’s a scheduled volleyball game date, join the mailing list here.

RE: 85th Volleyball Provisional Schedule For Second Round

As earlier announced to the participating team coaches and technical officials during Game 1 today, and in view of the coming Typhoon Pepeng, for the safety of the participants of the quarter final round of the 85th NCAA Volleyball Season, Games 2 & 3 slated on October 3 & 4 (Saturday & Sunday) respectively is moved to October 6 and 8, 2009, with the same playing time starting at 8AM.

Tickets dated on the postponed game days October 3 & 4 shall be honored on the playing dates October 6 and 8, 2009.

Provisional Schedule for the Final round of this event set on October 10,11, & 17, 2009 may also change depending on the Studio 23 airtime available for the “live” telecast of this event. Further changes for this round of event will be made to the playing teams who will reach this stage.

For your information and guidance. Salamat Po!

Mr. Michael L. Del Mundo (UPHDS)
Event Chair

85th NCAA Junior’s Volleyball semifinals

During the games held last October 1 for the NCAA Junior’s Volleyball division, San Sebastian defeated College of St. Benilde in 4 sets: 25-16, 19-25, 28-26, 25-10. Best scorers were Patrick John Rojas (SSC) with 39 won points and Victor Miguel Uy (CSB) with 16.

In the second match, University of Perpetual Help System Dalta defeated Angeles University Foundation in 5 sets: 22-25, 25-14, 22-25, 25-19, 17-15. Best scorers were John Francisco (UPHSD) with 28 won points and Teejay Yves Due (AUF) with 25.

Here’s a summary:

You can get the full game details including the player/team statics for all divisions in this 85th NCAA Volleyball game report (semi-finals).

Here’s the team standings during the elimination round as of September 22, 2009:

There used to be this group who play at the Ateneo College Covered Courts. Back in high school, I used to sneak up to play with them even if our coach would tell us not to so we can spend Tuesdays and Thursdays resting. One day he caught me. But I guess it was okay with him since we both ended up playing with the group. Tsk tsk! I don’t see this group anymore. Wonder what happened to them…

There’s another group who plays every Tuesdays and Saturdays 8-11pm at the Gator’s Center (lower basement of the Makati Stock Exchange). This is a big group so you’ll need to ask permission from Sandy Bediones (sandy_bd1s@yahoo.com) who organizes the games before you play with them. P30 per set you play and you usually take turns playing. Most of the folks in this group are very competitive since they were former varsity players.

And there’s one more group I know… enter Volleyball Game Date Group (in Facebook).

CALLING ALL VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS WHO LOVE THE GAME. JOIN US AND PLAY SOME VOLLEYBALL. INVITE YOUR FRIENDS. JOIN THE GROUP TO RECEIVE INVITES TO OUR WEEKLY VOLLEYBALL GAMES.

GAME SCHEDULE:

WHEN: Every Saturdays (or sometimes Fridays)
TIME: usually 6pm onwards
USUAL VENUES (depending on availability):

1. Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym along Katipunan Ave. P800/hour
2. Meralco Gym in Ortigas. P786/hour
3. Ateneo College Covered Courts. P350/hour
4. Club650 Libis, beside Shopwise. P1,000/hour

Suggestions to other (cheaper) venues are most welcome.

Rates: to be divided among the players (usually P100+ per head)
Playtime: at least 2 hours (plus overtime if there are enough players)

How how do you join this group? For Facebook users, just join here:

Or you can join the mailing list by entering your contact details below:

UPDATE: Next volleyball games will be on September 19 (Saturday) 6:30pm at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym. Let us know if you’re joining. Spike it hard!!!

Here are some photos of the group at the next page…

Hi Sir Marc,

I’ve been meaning to tell you, I got an A for my STRAMA (thesis), and I graduated last August 2 with honors. I just wanted to say thank you, and it wouldn’t have been possible without your help, with the survey and all. God bless and more power to the Spike It Hard blog.

Thanks again,

Patti Taganas

Thanks to all those folks who answered Patti’s survey on the Shakey’s V-League fan base. I think there were around 150 good souls who took the time and answered the survey. All the data we have provided were used by Patti for her thesis.

So Patti, what have you learned about the fan base of the Shakey’s V-League from your study? Maybe you can share whatever insights you gained from all this.

The National Collegiate Athletic Association volleyball tournament occurs every first semester of the academic year. It is divided into two divisions: (juniors) for high school students, and college students with two (2) categories for male (seniors) and female (women) college student athletes.

This 85th season, EAC gymnasium will be the new venue for the volleyball games. Opening ceremonies will commence on August 16, 2009 (Sunday) at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, 8am.

Emilio Aguinaldo College is at 1113-1117 San Marcelino St. corner Gonzales St. (near U.N. Avenue), 1000 Ermita, Manila, Philippines.

You can download the 85th NCAA Volleyball game schedule (in PDF format) at the Spikeithard’s Downloads section. Games will be played every Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. The eliminations will run until September 27.

In the last NCAA Volleyball tournament, Letran and San Sebastian College-Recoletos captured the championship titles in the Men’s and Women’s categories respectively. The Lady Stags who swept all 14 games during the last season to gain their fourth straight Women’s volleyball title, will be playing against College of St. Benilde in their opening match at 1pm (today!!).

Here are the teams participating in this 85th NCAA Volleyball tournament… next page please…

I was updating my Facebook account when I stumbled upon this Facebook fan page entitled “SmartBRO UAAP”. Apparently, SmarBRO will power the brightest stars in this season’s UAAP games.

The account shows some behind-the-scenes shots from the photo shoot featuring a variety of UAAP athletes including volleyball players.

Don’t be surprised to see billboards or posters or even TV commercials (I hope) featuring your favorite UAAP superstars in the near future being promoted by SmartBRO.

Of course, what caught my attention while I was browsing through the pages of this SmartBRO Facebook account were the UAAP Volleyball athlete endorsers!!

Here’s a list of all the UAAP athletes who are part of this campaign. Take note of those volleyball athletes in the list:

SmartBRO powers the brightest stars in this season’s UAAP

I’ve been asking around as to when this campaign will kick off but I guess stuff are still being prepared. If you have a Facebook account, then you can become a fan of the SmartBRO UAAP Facebook fan page and watch out for more details.

For the meantime, check out more behind-the-scenes photos (I got from Facebook) from the photo shoot on the next page…

4TH Mamerto S. MIRANDA CUP
Invitational Volleyball Tournament

MEN’S DIVISION:

1. Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU)
2. Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP)
3. Centro Escolar University (CEU)
4. FEATI University (FEATI)
5. Manuel L. Quezon University (MLQU)
6. Metro Manila College (MMC)
7. National College of Business and Arts (NCBA)
8. National University (NU)

WOMEN’S DIVISION:

1. FEATI University (FEATI)
2. Hope Christian Academy (Hope)
3. Metro Manila College (MMC)
4. Philippine College of Criminology (PCCr)
5. Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP)
6. World Citi College (WCC)

You can get the Miranda Cup game schedule and list of participating teams (updated as of 8/2/09) at the Spikeithard’s Download section.

During the 3rd Miranda Cup last year, there were 10 teams for the Men’s Division and only 4 teams for the Women’s Division.

The following schools will be joining Miranda Cup for the first time this year: Men’s – Central Colleges of the Philippines (CCP), Centro Escolar University (CEU), FEATI University (FEATI), Women’s – FEATI University (FEATI), Hope Christian Academy (Hope), Philippine College of Criminology (PCCr), Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP)

You can also see Daquis in those sizzling hot bikinis she wore during the show and vote which one you think is the hottest by revisiting this “Rachel Daquis featured in US Girls on Studio23” blog post.

Now who do you think is prettier? Rachel Daquis or Iya Villania?

We are appealing to people who have a passion for volleyball information to get involved in our world wide Biographies and Athlete Information Research Project for Volleyball.

We are not promising that you will end up working with at the Olympic Games or other international sporting events, but you never know what opportunities will arise!

We are looking for people who can help us with information about volleyball players — when they change clubs, when they are injured, when they get married/divorced/have children, and other interesting pieces of information.

We will send you samples, guidance and everything you need to know to start in the project.

We are not interested in “gossip”, and we need to know where your information comes from — whether it is from club websites, newspaper articles, interviews or from the athletes themselves.

In return, we can provide you with a unique opportunity to get more involved in your sport – as well as membership of our Bio team, and who knows what opportunities for the future.

The information we collect is collated, checked and then published by our Biography team in Sydney, Australia.

It is then used at major sports events, and by the media covering sport.

If this appeals to you, please respond by filling up the Google Docs form below. For any inquiries, you can email me at annatomas@gmail.com.

Thank you.

Anna Tomas

For interested parties, please answer the form on the next page….