Colegio de San Juan de Letran bucked a slow start against San Sebastian College-Recoletos to get a four-set victory, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 29-27, in the NCAA Season 98 Women’s Volleyball Tournament on Friday at the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila.
With the win, the Lady Knights got their third win in four games, a far better performance than their previous season where they finished 2-7. Meanwhile, the Lady Staglets are still winless in four games.
Head coach Michael Inoferio credited the team’s willingness to win saying, “Kaming mga coaches wala kaming magagawa dyan kundi to remind them what to do. Ano mga di gagawin at gagawin nila, check yung mali and bigyan ng konting tips. Sila pa rin ang magdedecide kung ano ang gusto nila iresulta sa laro which is ayun ang nangyayari samin ngayon. Sila nag-decide, sila nag-trabaho, that’s why nanalo kami.”
Following their win in the first set, the Lady Stags struggled in the succeeding two sets as they were committing crucial errors when it mattered — back-to-back service errors in the second and third set match point.
After trailing 9-15 midway through the fourth frame, the Lady Knights were still able to claw back and force match points four times led by Cha Cuñada and Judiel Nitura.
Knotted at 27-all — the fourth set point deadlock of the fourth canto — San Sebastian made a crucial attack error that gave Letran a one-point advantage. Nitura followed it up with an attack point to seal the victory for the Lady Knights.
Four Lady Knights finished in double figures led by Nitura with 17. Cuñada, Lea Tapang, and Daisy Melendres finished with 16, 15, and 13 respectively.
Natalie Estraller had 11 excellent sets together with five points.
Christina Marasigan finished with 18 points all coming from attacks, while Kristine Dionisio added 16 markers and 19 excellent receptions for the Lady Stags.
In the second game, Emilio Aguinaldo College breached the win column after downing San Beda University in five sets, 25-23, 24-26, 25-19, 18-25, 15-12.
This is the Lady Generals’ first victory in four games, while the Lady Red Spikers dropped to 0-4.
Following a back-and-forth affair the entire contest, EAC saw themselves leading by a point, 9-8 in the fifth set. From there, the Lady Generals scored five straight points led by Jamaica Villena to bring them to within match point, 14-8.
However, Kat Molina had other plans in mind as she scored three of the Lady Red Spikers’ four straight points to bring them to within two, 12-14. But unfortunately for them, a costly service error by Patricia Cenzon closed San Beda’s doors for a comeback.
Cathrine Almazan finished with a game-high 24 points built from 19 attacks, four serves, a block together with 16 excellent digs. Jennifer Omapas and Villena had 12 markers apiece.
For San Beda, Chynna Castillo finished with 16 points, and 16 excellent receptions, while Jan Miles Gregorio had 23 excellent digs.
