After completing a dream season last year coupled with a UAAP title conquest last month, there should be no doubt why University of Santo Tomas should not be rated high in the 7th Shakey’s V-League which opens shop on April 11 at The Arena in San Juan.

The Tigresses have dominated all the tournaments they competed in last year – a reason why they remain the top favorites to win a record sixth crown in country’s biggest volleyball tourney.

UST, which will celebrate its 400th anniversary next year, swept the twin V-League titles last season, ruled the University Games in Iloilo City in the middle of the year before knocking off the UAAP crown from the La Salle Lady Archers two weeks ago.

These accolades, however, should not be a guarantee for UST to have another great year since other teams underwent serious build ups during the off season.

Add to that is the fact that league will have a 10-team cast with three teams from the Visayas joining the fray in a noble format that will ensure a tight race among the finest teams from the UAAP and NCAA.

The teams from the south include University of San Jose-Recoletos, University of St. La Salle-Bacolod, and Southwestern University from Cebu, winner of last year’s CESAFI women’s volley tournament, which will be treated as a Metro Manila team, taking the spot vacated by University of the Philippines, which decided to take a leave of absence to further shore up its roster in time for the second conference in July.

“What makes this conference exciting is that the Visayan teams will see action from the start unlike the previous years when they are seeded into the quarters, thus giving all the teams the chance to test their mettle,” Moying Martelino, chairman of the organizing Sports Vision Management Group, Inc. (SVMGI), said. “This is going to be fun, exciting as we envisioned it to be.”

Among the teams out to challenge UST in the upcoming conference sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and backed by Mikasa and Accel and telecast over NBN-4, is Ateneo, which is coming off a third place finish in the recent UAAP tilt.

Other teams seeing action include Adamson, Far Eastern University, perennial NCAA champion San Sebastian, Lyceum and St. Benilde, two teams which retained the core of their last year’s squad.