Perpetual Altas sweeps elims, march to NCAA 95 Finals

University of Perpetual Help System DALTA made sure that it remains on track for a three-peat after belting Colegio de San Juan de Letran with a 25-14, 25-15, 25-18 whipping, Thursday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.

The Altas flaunted their might throughout the preliminaries, completing a clean 9-0 sweep of the round to gain an outright berth in the NCAA Season 95 Men’s Volleyball Finals.

In the process, the defending champions also extends their winning romp to 22 matches, dating back from Season 93.

“It’s very hard kasi we are the defending champions. I always tell my players they have to respect all the teams sa NCAA,” Perpetual head coach Sammy Acaylar said of the sweep.

“Sa nangyari sa amin ngayon, ‘di ko naman ini-expect. Never sa mind ko na inisip na tatalunin ko ang lahat. ‘Di ko iniisip ‘yun. Iniisip ko lang one step at a time,” he added.

Not wanting to fall prey to an upset, Perpetual unleashed a balanced offensive thrust to mount sizable cushions in all frames and orchestrate an hour-long drubbing of the Knights.

Converted hitter Louie Ramirez — one of the frontrunners in the league’s MVP race — was the lone double-digit scorer in the match. He put up 10 points built on eight attacks and two blocks.

Ronniel Rosales and Ridzuan Muhali provided ample support with eight markers each, while Kennry Malinis supplemented seven.

Letran, on the other hand, slumped to 2-6.

Christopher Cistina topped the Knights with eight points, while Michael Doria lagged a point behind with seven.

The Perpetual Altas seek to extend their dominance to the best-of-three championship series, as they await the survivor of the step-ladder playoffs. For now, though, they have to deal with a long layoff as all the league’s volleyball action has been suspended indefinitely.