With head coach Shaq Delos Santos watching from the sidelines, University of the Philippines opened its 2022 V-League Women’s Collegiate Challenge campaign with a quick 25-18, 25-19, 25-17 victory over San Beda University in Pool A, Wednesday at the Paco Arena.
Stephanie Bustrillo spearheaded the Fighting Maroons’ balanced offensive attack with 11 points built on 10 attacks on top of seven excellent digs. Meanwhile, Nina Ytang and Jewel Encarnacion added seven and six points, respectively.
“Happy na proud sa mga bata. Kasi yung mga inensayo namin, lumabas nga doon sa game namin. Lalo na sa service receive namin, sa blockings at sa depensa po,” said assistant coach Kirk Beliran, who called the shots in lieu of Delos Santos.
“Malaking bagay talaga once maganda yung service receive namin, nakaka-atake kami nang maganda saka yung blockings,” he added.
UP figured in a tight encounter against the Lady Red Spikers early in the third frame. Then it unleashed a 9-3 blast past the second technical timeout to put up a 17-8 cushion.
The lead grew to as much as nine points, 21-12, after Aryanna Binondo committed an illegal attack. From there, San Beda closed the gap to five, 16-21, by capitalizing on the Fighting Maroons’ errors.
UP stretched its back to eight, 24-16, after Abi Goc kick-started a 3-0 spurt with a kill which put her side at match point. Goc then committed a service error before Jaschryl Casugod did the same, ending the match.
No player from the Lady Red Spikers finished in double digits. Angel Habacon finished with nine points to go along with six excellent digs. Katleya Molina added seven in the loss.
Next up for UP is University of Sto. Tomas on Wednesday, 3:00 PM. On the other hand, San Beda will go up against College of St. Benilde earlier in the day at 10:00 AM.
