The Lyceum of the Philippines University Pirates sent the erstwhile unbeaten San Beda College Red Spikers to its first loss of the season, after outlasting the latter in five exciting sets, 25-23, 23-25, 25-18, 19-25, 15-12, Monday afternoon at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Both teams played neck and neck in the first two sets, where the squad who had better passing getting the wins.
It was more of the same in the next two sets, but the Pirates leaned on their net defense in the third set to take the 2-1 advantage.
The Pirates limited the production of San Beda opposite hitter Mark Enciso, who poured in most of his 21 attacks in the first two sets.
Joeward Presnede carried the load for the Pirates, who were outscored on the attacks, 42-65. The outside spiker finished with 22 points, 19 coming from attacks including the hit that sent Lyceum to match point.
The Red Spikers were all over the place, but their aggressiveness resulted to a horrendous 42 errors.
However, what worked for Lyceum in this match is their blocking. The Pirates denied 14 of the Red Spikers’ hits to frustrate the offense of the latter.
“Yung game plan namin, pinag-aralan namin paano kami bablock. Paano namin mastop yung bola nila; naging effective naman,” Pirates head coach Emil Lontoc said.
The seasoned mentor also said that they worked on their mental toughness by letting the Pirates enjoy the game. He quipped, “Pinasaya ko sila. Pinakanta ko sila.”
The Pirates (2-1) will battle the in-form CSB Blazers (2-1) on Tuesday, December 6. Meanwhile, San Beda (3-1) will look to bounce back when they face the San Sebastian Stags (1-2) on December 1, Thursday.
The Scores:
LPU (3) – Presnede 22, Badua 17, Samonte 10, Dulce 6, Pecana 5, Saporna 4, Magpantay 1, Ganilla 0, Uy Corral 0, Rubio L.
SBC (2) – Enciso 23, Viray 14, Zabala 12, Santos 10, Manliclic 7, Desuyo 3, E. Gonzales 3, Patenio 2, Mascariñas 1, Genobaten 0, Casin L.
