The Lady Altas stay in the playoff hunt
The University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Lady Altas grinded it out before dominating the Jose Rizal University Lady Bombers, 25-23, 25-22, 24-26, 25-15, to take their fifth win of the season, Friday afternoon at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Lady Altas team skipper Coleen Bravo finished the match with 21 points off 18 attacks, two blocks, and a service ace, to lead the Las Piñas-based squad to the victory.
The most striking stat, however, is the 73 excellent sets of Necelle Gual, showing the well-rounded offense of the white-shirts. Perpetual racked up 58 spikes over JRU’s 37.
The Lady Altas had to fight it out with the Bombers in the first two sets as the latter used their defense to frustrate the former. Most of Perpetual’s 40 errors were scattered in the first three sets.
Such tenacity on defense paid off for JRU as they pulled off the third-set win despite the comeback attempts of the Perps. Shola Alvarez and Rosalie Pepito poured in most of their combined 29 markers in this frame.
Nonetheless, the Lady Altas regrouped and eventually sealed the win off a Bravo hit.
The captain shared that defense is the key to their wins this year and that is what lifted them up against the Bombers in this match.
“Medyo slow start nga kami, di ba? First two games talo kami. Talagang nag-focus kami na defense: blockings, tapos yung sa [floor] defense, kasi yun yung naging problema namin,” she shared.
Going into their final elimination round assignment against Arellano, the middle hitter said, “Siguro focus lang po. Hindi kami pwedeng map-ressure, kasi as a team pag pinapasukan kami ng pressure, nawawala sa focus. Dapat enjoy lang. Pag nage-enjoy ka, magagawa mo yung laro mo.”
The Lady Altas (5-3) keep their playoff hopes alive with the win and will face off with the Lady Chiefs (6-1) on Wednesday, January 25. The Lady Bombers ended their season at 3-6, good for sixth place.
The Scores
UPHSD (3) – Bravo 21, Clemente 20, Suyat 15, Tripoli 7, Versoza 4, Imbo 3, Umandal 1, Rosal 1, Marcos 0, Medalla L.
JRU (1) – Alvarez 18, Pepito 11, Montojo 8, Batalon 6, Rivera 1, Bondoc 1, Bodiongan 1, Macaraya L.
