In a game that featured two of the lowly-ranked squads from last season, the Emilio Aguinaldo College Lady Generals and the San Beda Lady Red Spikers figured in a game that saw both squads show rust in their game.
With a combined 83 errors, the Lady Generals were able to escape the Lady Red Spikers in five sets, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 20-25, 15-9, to open their NCAA Season 91 campaign with a victory Monday afternoon at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
A string of errors by the Lady Generals gave San Beda the first set in a close 25-23 set while Emilio Aguinaldo was able to tie the match at one-set apiece with a 25-23 second set victory.
After a 17-all deadlock in the third set, the EAC Lady Generals were able to pull-away after two excellent spikes by Janine Danao to go up 20-17. Kristine Santos and Yvonne Reyes were able to convert on their own capped by a service ace by Reyes to take the third set, 25-21.
The Lady Spikers from Mendiola then bounced back in the fourth set. San Beda’s Nieza Viray was on-point to help give her team an early 13-8 lead. Poor reception by San Beda midway through the set though eventually tied the set at 17-all. However, errors by the Lady Generals, including an attack error by Nerigina Pagdanganan and Yvonne Reyes, gave San Beda the set 25-20.
EAC’s Yvonne Reyes bounced back in the deciding fifth set to help give EAC an early 7-4 lead. Errors by Reyes and Janine Danao though would keep the set close while conversions by Iris Domingo cut the EAC lead to 9-8. Pagdanganan strung together three straight points to give EAC the match-point, 14-9. In a microcosm of the entire game, San Beda’s Pham Garcia was called for a net touch to give the game to EAC, 15-9.
San Beda’s Nieza Viray led all scorers with 20 markers. However, Viray was inefficient in converting on only 20 of her 86 spike attempts. EAC had a balanced scoring output, on the other hand, with Reyes scoring 17 while Pagdanganan had 14 and setter Mikee De Jesus notching 13 markers.
The EAC Lady Generals (1-0) will next face the JRU Lady Bombers (0-1) on Wednesday, December 2. On the other hand, San Beda (0-1) will have a tougher assignment as they face the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Lady Stags (1-0) on the same day.
The Scores:
EAC (3) – Reyes 17, Pagdanganan 14, De Jesus 11, Santos 9, Tongco 7, Danao 6, Suarez 0, Lumbo 0, Medina L.
SBC (2) – Viray N. 20, Espiritu 12, Domingo 12, Viray J. 8, Racraquin 7, Cuevas 6, Tannagan 0, Laguna 0, Dumpit 0, Manuel L, Zamudio L.
