It had been a long day for NCAA women’s volleyball, as the two matches were decided in the fifth set. In the end, the San Sebastian College Recolletos Lady Stags survived the upset-conscious Mapua Institute of Technology Lady Cardinals, and the Emiilio Aguinaldo College Lady Generals punched another thrilling win over the Colegio de San Juan De Letran Lady Knights, Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Arena, San Juan City.
Last year’s runners-up, the Lady Stags, played without team captain and National Team mainstay Gretchel Soltones against the Lady Cardinals. It looked like her absence had made no difference in the first set as San Sebastian breezed past the opponent, 25-13. However, in the second set, Mapua kept within striking distance. The Cardinals eventually pulled the rag off the Lady Stags, who visibly had no finisher during the tight moments of the set. San Sebastian pulled away again in the third frame with a similar scoreline, 25-13, but Mapua again responded in the fourth, 25-23, to force a deciding fifth set. In the end, it was two errors from Mapua that spelled their doom: a service fault from Jela Peña and a two-hit violation from Angelica Guardian. The Lady Stags took it, 16-14.
Both teams combined for a horrendous total of 93 errors, which summed up the game. The Lady Stags had a 42-36 advantage on the attacks and a 9-7 lead on blocks. Dangie Encarnacion played the scoring-machine role in Soltones’ stead with 17 points for the San Sebastian. Nikka Dalisay and Katherine Villegas followed Encarnacion with 12 points each. Outside hitter Katrina Racelis led the flight of the Cardinals with 13 markers.
The scores:
SSC-R (3) – Encarnacion 17, Dalisay 12, Villegas 12, Labiano 9, Sta. Rita 4, Crisostomo 1, Corpuz 1, Lim 1, Guillema 0, Amponin 0, Eroa (L), Cruz (L)
MIT (2) – Racelis 13, Sedenio 12, Peña 11, Guardian 11, Latayan 3, Aquino 0, Ramilo 0, Frando 0, Luzon (L)
In the first game, EAC eked out another five-set victory for their second win of the season. The Lady Generals came from behind to upend the Lady Knights, 14-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-21, 15-10. With reception being the main problem for EAC, Letran had a field day on the service line with 11 service aces. However, the Lady Generals took the lead in blocks, 8-3, to even it out. It was the timely hitting of EAC that eventually propelled them to take the deciding fifth set and the match led by Nergina Pagdanganan. The middle blocker had 23 huge points, 15 on attacks and 5 on blocks. Janine Danao led the supporting cast with 15 markers. Regielyn Cabrera had 12 points for the Lady Knights, while consistent top-scorer Cynthia Molina had 11.
The scores:
EAC (3) – Pagdanganan 23, Danao 15, Reyes 10, Tongco 5, Santos 5, De Jesus 4, Lumbo 0, Medina (L), Castillo (L)
CSJL (2) – Cabrera 12, Molina 11, Lopez 10, Carreon 9, Abitan 8, Bangcola 7, Urizza 2, Larioque 1, Medina 0, Laserna (L), Angeles (L)
