By: Rom Anzures
Barbie San Andres shone once again for Mapua University by taking a thrilling five-set victory of 21-25, 26-24, 25-23, 22-25, 15-12 against Emilio Aguinaldo College on Saturday in the NCAA Season 98 Men’s Volleyball Tournament at the San Andres Sports Complex.
San Andres scored his season-high of 34 points, built on 30 attacks, three aces, and a block to help the Cardinals improve to 5-2.
After a nip-and-tuck affair that went to a decider, Mapua found themselves up by five, 12-7, capped by a San Andres ace.
However, the Generals refused to lose as they clawed back to within striking distance, 12-14 built on attacks and service errors on the side of the Cardinals.
With the momentum on EAC’s side, Lawrence Diones and Marvin Romero had a miscommunication resulting in an error that cost them the game.
The Generals absorbed their second loss in six games.
Ar Jay Ramos also contributed 20 markers for Mapua, while Juancho Barba provided 26 excellent sets.
Marvin Romero led the balanced scoring for the Generals with 18 points, followed by Joshua Ramillo with 17. John Paglaon finished with 26 excellent sets.
Meanwhile, Jose Rizal University went for its second straight win after taking down San Sebastian College-Recolletos in four sets, 25-20, 25-21, 25-27, 26-24.
The Heavy Bombers, who were coming from a five-set win against Letran, picked up where they left off and won the first two sets to start the match.
But the Golden Stags stopped their momentum with an extended-set win in the third, as Kyle Villamor blocked the attack of JRU to get the set point, 26-25, followed by France Binondo’s service ace to end the set.
San Sebastian continued to roll in the fourth and looked to send the game into a deciding fifth set as they were up 24-19 after a JRU service error, but the Heavy Bombers refused to give up and scored seven straight points to win the game and improve to 3-4 into the season.
Leading JRU was Aldre Ferrer, who put up five points and 26 huge excellent sets. Windel Laurenciana top-scored for the Heavy Bombers with 18 points, while Bryle Alipan scored 15 points on 11 attacks, three blocks, and an ace.
Villamor scored 23 points for the Golden Stags, whose final four hopes are in peril after falling to 1-6. Andrei Yape followed him with 14 points, while Binondo and Jan Arano scored six each.
