With the Final Four cast already in place, only the rankings are still to be determined. In the penultimate day of eliminations, defending champions Arellano University Lady Chiefs clinched the other twice-to-beat advantage in the Final Four after outlasting the De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde Lady Blazers in five sets, the while University of Perpetual Help System DALTA carved a straight-set victory over the also-rans Emilio Aguinaldo College Lady Generals, Friday at FilOil Flying V Centre, San Juan City.
In the first women’s match, the Lady Altas snared their sixth win of the season in dominating fashion against the Lady Generals, 25-20 25-20 25-23. The Las Piñas-based squad tallied a whopping 46 attacks against the measly 17 of EAC. The Lady Generals, however, surprisingly out-hustled the taller opponents at the net. EAC rejected 10 hits from the Altas over the 4 blocks they suffered in the whole match.
Despite the huge disparity in the spikes department, the Lady Generals were in the thick of the fight throughout the contest as they forced Perpetual to 38 errors. Middle hitter Lourdes Clemente paced the Lady Altas with 16 attacks, while former Team Captain Jamela Suyat coughed up 15 markers. No EAC player scored in double figures as Yna Pagdanganan led the squad with 8 points.
The Score:
UPHSD (3) – Clemente 16, Suyat 15, Imbo 8, Bravo 6, Diocareza 6, Verzosa 2, Medalla 0, Gayo 0, Condada (L)
EAC (0) – Pagdanganan 8, Danao 5, Tongco 5, Chan 4, Reyes 3, Santos 1, Tasis 0, Medina (L), Castillo (L)
In the other half of the day’s women’s twinbill, reigning champions Arellano survived the vastly more experienced Lady Blazers in marathon match, 25-20 22-25 28-30 25-18 19-17, to secure one of the twice-to-beat bonuses in the semifinals. Both teams exchanged runs, with timely hits from their marquee players in each of the set, but it was the team who got to the 20th point first that won the respective frames. This same scenario happened even in that hard-fought third set, where the Lady Chiefs squandered three set points and conceded the set to CSB.
The defending champions led early in the deciding fifth set, only for the Lady Blazers to get to within one, 6-7, courtesy of an open hit from Arianne Daguil. Three straight errors from the Taft-based ladies, however, gave the lead and the momentum back to Arellano, 10-7. From there, back-and-forth action ensued and the Lady Chiefs got to the match point first at 14-12. After a wild exchange of hits, errors, and match points, Danna Henson finally finished the match with a service ace.
CSB outscored Arellano, 60-54 on attacks and 12-1 on blocks, but they committed a huge 48 infractions. Janine Navarro top-billed the Blazers with 25 attacks and a total of 28 markers. Arellano’s heroine, Henson, registered 20 markers, 5 of them from the service area. Fellow outside hitter Jovielyn Prado led the tribe with 23 points, 18 coming from attacks and 5 service aces.
The Score:
AU (3) – Prado 23, Henson 20, Salamagos 10, Rosario 7, Macabalitao 7, Ramirez 2, Sante 1, Tan 0, Arocha 0, Galang (L)
CSB (2) – Navarro 27, Panaga 21, Daguil 13, Cheng 6, Santillan 6, Austero 5, Musa 2, Borrero 0, Dolorito 0, Torres (L)
