The College of Saint Benilde Blazers shook off a third-set loss to upend the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals, 25-18, 25-17, 20-25, 25-13, Monday morning at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Team captain Johnvic De Guzman paced the league leaders with 20 points, 17 coming from attacks and three blocks, all off EAC’s Paolo Lim.
The Blazers powered its way through the first two sets in the late stages, pouncing on the reception woes of the Generals.
Outside hitters Karlo Gorospe and Joshua Miña kept the U.N. Avenue-based squad in step with their attacks, only the leads were comfortable enough for the opponents.
Gorospe led the charge for the Generals in the third set as he took advantage of the inefficient reception of Saint Benilde at the service line. Without first ball, the Blazers succumbed to errors leading to EAC’s win.
Most of the green-shirts’ 32 mistakes came from this frame.
Nonetheless, the Blazers never looked back in the fourth set, as substitute Ryan Daming sent them to match point. An error from the Generals sealed the win for the Blazers.
The winners dominated the contest in all of the scoring skills, taking a huge 22-spike advantage at 58-36 attacks, 8-3 on blocks, and 5-2 on serves.
Blazers’ middle hitter Ron Jordan chipped in 13 points, while Isaah Arda registered 12 markers.
On the other hand, Gorospe and Miña had 13 points each to rally the Generals.
The Blazers and the San Beda Red Spikers, both at 5-1, will face each other on January 5 next year. On the other hand, the Generals (0-6) will take on the Lyceum Pirates (2-2) when elimination round resume ths day before.
CSB skipper De Guzman rued their lack of killer instinct in the third set loss.
“Siguro kulang lang nung pagdadala sa sarili. Kasi, skills-wise talagang pulido na eh,” he said. “Yung kulang na lang sa team is kung paano iba-bond yung per individual. Kasi may times na off si ganito, off si ganyan, nagkakataon, nagkakawatak-watak. Yun yung main problem namin sa team.”
The Scores:
CSB (3) – De Guzman 20, Jordan 13, Arda 12, Bacani 6, Basilan 6, Orian 5, Bautista 4, Daming 3, Martinez 2, Magsino 0, Deximo 0, Montano 0, Dy L, Garcia L.
EAC (1) – Gorospe 13, Miña 13, Lim 7, Cilocilo 7, Rasing 1, Castellano 0, Garcia 0.
