ATENEO survived Lyceum’s determined stand in the first two sets then asserted its might in the third to complete a 25-23, 29-27, 25-17 victory at the start of the Shakey’s V-League’s fifth season at The Arena in San Juan on Sunday.

Thai ace Kanchana Jindarat fired away 20 kills and finished with 22 points four days after arriving to backstop the Lady Eagles in their bid for a first-ever crack at the championship after a third-place finish in the last conference.

“Our main objective is to make it to the top two. I do trust my players that they can get the job done,” said Ateneo coach Michelle Laborte, who saw action for the Lady Eagles as a guest player last year.

COACH Michelle Laborte and the Lady Eagles get the job done in their first game of the season. --NONOY LACZA

Ma. Rosario Soriano provided a solid backup to Jindarat by scoring 17 points, including 13 attacks, while holding her own in defense with three blocks.

No other Lady Eagle, however, was able to churn out double-digit scores although Laborte is hopeful to draw balanced scoring from her wards in the next few games of the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and organized by Sports Vision.

“Kanchana just arrived on Thursday so they are still trying to adjust to the system,” said Laborte, who drew a combined 17-point output from Denise Acevedo, Patricia Taganas, Misha Quimpo, Karla Bello and Therese Limgenco.

The Lady Pirates played with so much guts and resiliency majority of the way with Beverly Boto and Jane Jarin leading the charge. But the Intramuros-based team cracked up after dropping two match points in the first two sets and lost steam in the third.

Earlier, Philippine Olympic Committee president Jose Cojuangco Jr., Shakey’s general manager Vic Gregorio, sports commissioner Eric Loretizo and tournament director Tony Boy Liao made the ceremonial serves kicking off the three-month long event, backed by Active White skin whitening products, Mail and More, ICT Call Center, Mikasa and Accel.

Meanwhile, the Ateneo-Lyceum match will be aired on NBN-4 starting at 2 p.m. Monday with the San Sebastian-St. Benilde clash to be telecast Tuesday.

For details, log on at the league website on www.v-league.ph.

Boto wound up with 18 points, highlighted with 15 kills, while Jarin fired away 11 attacks for a 13-point performance. Bernadette Satsatin, Dahlia Cruz and Jamie Peña each scored six points for Lyceum.

The league resumes Tuesday also at The Arena with the matches between Lyceum and Adamson at 2 p.m. and Saint Benilde and Far Eastern University at 4 p.m.

Later in the night, fancied San Sebastian used its power and experience to outclass newcomer College of St. Benilde, 25-11, 25-18, 25-23, and match Ateneo’s straight set victory.

Ekwe Harbour Centre-RP’s sole import

THE country’s bid to retain the Southeast Asian Basketball Association (Seaba) Champions Cup now lies heavily on the broad shoulders of Nigerian Sam Ekwe.

Korean and Thai top Mitsubishi netfest

Cho Soong-Jae and Noppawan Lertcheewakarn took different routes in winning their respective divisions in the 19th Mitsubishi Lancer International Junior Tennis Championships Sunday at the Rizal Tennis Center.

Luisito Espinosa is knocking on Malacañang’s doors in his quest to secure the prize money in a title fight he appeared in more than 10 years ago.

ATENEO survived Lyceum’s determined stand in the first two sets then asserted its might in the third to complete a 25-23, 29-27, 25-17 victory at the start of the Shakey’s V-League’s fifth season at The Arena in San Juan on Sunday.

THE Asian Tour and the National Golf Association of the Philippines (NGAP), in cooperation with host venue Wack Wack Golf and Country Club, will launch the 92nd edition of the $300,000 Philippine Open, Asia’s oldest national championship, with the “Meet the Players” press conference on Tuesday in Mandaluyong City.

A FIGHTING Philippine team gave a good account of itself against a superior field at the Asian Duathlon Championship Sunday in Chiangsaen Chianrai province, Thailand, and finished second in the team event while its young entries came up with podium finishes.

WHEREVER there are ballparks or arenas, there are memories.

I paraphrased that from Tom Stanton’s book The Final Season (not to be confused with the baseball movie with the same title) where the author attended every single home game of the Detroit Tigers in their swansong campaign at the old and venerable Tiger Stadium in 1999 in an attempt to explore what the venue and the sport meant to him and four earlier generations of his family.