CALIFORNIA Academy and Naga College Foundation clash in the one-game championship match for of the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Invitational League (GVIL) Saturday at the San Andres Gym in Malate, Manila.
Pouncing on the momentum of their huge wins against favored rivals in the semifinals, the two teams shoot for a perfect run in the 16-team league backed by Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, Potato Corner, Peri-Peri and R&B Tea with the City of Manila as government cooperation partner.
The match between unheralded squads based outside of Metro Manila is set at 4 p.m.
California Academy stunned University Athletic Association of the Philippines juniors champion National University-Nazareth School (NUNS), 23-25, 25-23, 25-22, 27-25, and Naga besting Visayas powerhouse Bacolod Tay Tung High School, 11-25, 25-23, 25-23, 25-23, in the semifinals.
“We’re not going to take Naga lightly, we played them before,” said coach Obet Vital of the Antipolo City-based California team. “All teams here are very strong and respectable.”
Naga, which had to travel by land more than 400 kilometers to and from Manila every weekend since the GVIL opener, is not to be counted out either.
“Our strength is our courage and we’ll show that even provincial teams are strong,” Naga coach Parley Tupaz said. “We’ll fight to the end.”
NU-NS and Bacolod shoot for the bronze medal at 2 p.m. while Far Eastern University-Diliman and La Salle Lipa collide for seventh to eighth rankings at 9 a.m. and Adamson University and University of Santo Tomas clash at 12 p.m. for fifth to sixth places.