It was a battle of teams in opposite sides of the table, and as expected, the top seed won.
NCAA Men’s Volleyball powerhouse University of Perpetual Help System DALTA Altas swept the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights, 25-20, 25-19, 25-22, to inch closer to the Finals, Friday morning at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Rookie Joebert Almodiel and team captain Jun Taneo paced the undefeated Altas with 15 and 11 points, respectively. The former registered 13 attacks and two serves, while the latter finished with nine attacks, and one each of block and ace.
The Altas built comfortable leads in each of the sets of the match, but errors and Letran’s net defense kept it close. Nonetheless, Perps setter Warren Catipay just knew what play to execute to close out the frames.
For Taneo, this problem is a source of concern. “Yung consistency po namin,” he said. “Yun pa po ‘yung hindi namin nagagawa as of now. Kahit alam po namin na kaya namin ‘yung kalaban, nakakahabol dahil sa errors. Consistency po ‘yung mahina sa ‘min.”
When asked which team will face bigger pressure in the crucial match against the College of Saint Benilde (6-2) on Tuesday, the Season 91 Finals MVP said, “Hindi ko po masabi, kasi po bilog ang bola. Pero yun na lang po gagawin naming, maglaro ng tama.”
The Knights ended their season winless, bidding goodbye to skipper Bobby Gatdula, who finished with nine points. Paul Alilio led Letran at 10 markers.
Letran, who were led by graduating seniors Paul Alilio and Bobby Gatdula with 10 and 9 points, respectively, suffered a winless season.
The Scores:
UPHSD 3 – Almodiel 15, Taneo Jr. 11, Muhali 8, Rosales 8, Ramos 6, Atentar 1, Solamilo 1, Bation 1, Taneo 0, Kalingking L, Balmores L.
CSJL 0 – Alilio 10, Gatdula 9, Cistina 7, Almoguerra 4, Domingo 4, Ladeon 3, Dizon 1, Tumbali 0, Ramos 0, Sison 0, Orsini 0, Timbreza L, Centeno L.
