ByEdwin Rollon
Game Today (Sept. 27)
3:30 p.m. - SSC-R vs FEU starting at 3:30 p.m.
6:00 p.m. - Lyceum vs UE
Shakey’s and ACES Philippines vowed to continue building a strong foundation for grassroots development guided by respect, fairness, and integrity in every aspect of the game and the organization.
Thus, is the essence of the staging of yet another challenging school-based volleyball tournament – the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-Season – set to unfold starting today at the fable Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
“When we decided to renew our involvement in volleyball, we partnered with ACES Philippines simply because we value respect, fairness, and integrity. We need people with high morale and integrity to build a strong foundation for volleyball development. And when we organize volleyball event, we will make sure to wow the whole community,” said Shakey’s Pizza Asia Venture President and CEO Vicente Gregorio during the league presentation on Wednesday at its Malate branch.
“We will never allow hooligans in the tournament. Para lang sumikat ang produkto o ang liga, kailangang gumawa ng hindi maganda na makasisira sa liga, we will never allow that. And we’re happy and confident that ACES and its technical people is doing it’s best to protect the athletes, officials and the game for the sake of volleyball development, dyan maaasahan ninyo kami na makakasama ninyo,” added Gregorio.
ACES president Dr. Ian Lauel announced that 18 top volleyball squads – 10 NCAA and 8 UAAP – battle it out for crown and glory in the third staging of the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-Season Championship.
The league welcomes the return of the University of the Philippines and De La Salle University after taking a leave of absence last year to complete the tournament cast featuring all eight teams from the UAAP and 10 from the NCAA.
“All 18 schools are confirmed. This is our third conference this season. This is our flagship conference. Our main event. The goal was to get all 18 schools, the 10 NCAA teams, and eight UAAP schools. We’re happy that we’re able to do that this year,” said Laurel, who also announced that G-Cash will be given 1 free ticket if you avail of the Family of Five bundles.
“For the prize of P200 (lower level) and P300 (patron), you will enjoy watching three action-packed matches, may libre pang Shakey’s pizza kung makasali kayo sa mga parlor games and raffle,” said Laurel.
Picked as a team to beat is the UAAP champion National University which eyeing a third straight conference crown and a sweep of the season after its flawless National Invitationals conquest last July.
But the Lady Bulldogs are sure to face tough opposition from a very competitive field in the centerpiece SSL tournament backed by Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, Mikasa, GCash, Chery Tiggo, F2 Logistics, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Potato Corner, R and B Milk Tea and Summit Water.
The 18 squads are split into four pools with NU, Arellano University, Emilio Aguinaldo College, Ateneo de Manila University, and San Beda University bunched in Pool A.
Pool B comprises the University of Santo Tomas, Lyceum of the Philippines University, Mapua University, University of the East, and University of Perpetual Help System Dalta.
Pool C is bannered by La Salle, Letran College, Jose Rizal University, and UP while Pool D has NCAA champion College of Saint Benilde, San Sebastian College-Recoletos, and Adamson University.
The top two teams of each pool will advance to the next round where they will be grouped into two groups carrying over the points they earned in the prelims for another round-robin play to determine their rankings in the quarterfinals.
The top two ranked squads after the round will be armed with twice-to-beat advantages in the crossover quarterfinals of the tilt, which has Mikasa, Asics, Rebel Sports, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), SM Tickets and Smart Sports as technical partners.
The semifinals and battle for bronze are knockout affairs while the championship is a best-of-three series.
All players listed in a team’s roster will be fielded under the tournament’s unique all-to-play format while the video challenge system will also be implemented.
“We want to showcase the recruits of the teams they’ve acquired during the offseason. The fans can expect new names and new faces. See how they will perform and jell with their teams. Established players will also be playing so we’ll have the full lineup of teams ready to play,” Laurel said.
“We have the all-to-play format because it encourages more playing time for all the players in the lineup.”
Games will be available live and on-demand via Puso Pilipinas, SMART Livestream, Solar Sports Channel 70 on Sky Cable and Channel 59 on Cable Link.
