Coming off a deflating loss to EAC, College of St. Benilde made a quick return to the win column of the NCAA Season 95 Men’s Volleyball Tournament after disposing of San Sebastian College-Recoletos, 25-22, 25-16, 25-22, Tuesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Vince Abrot delivered the goods once again, dispersing a game-high 14 points laced with 11 excellent receptions and five excellent digs in the sweep. His all-around brilliance buoyed the Blazers to a 3-2 slate, keeping pace with fourth-seed San Beda, which holds a 3-1 card.
St. Benilde captain Kevin Magsino was also instrumental, ably orchestrating the offense to the tune of 30 excellent sets. Thanks to his surgical decision-making, all but one of the seven attackers fielded in tallied a point.
Paul Laguit and Georgie Guani also made their presence felt on the offensive end. The former supplied 10 markers, while the latter chimed in eight markers. Franz Almonte contributed seven.
Still, despite wrapping up the match in straight-set fashion, St. Benilde head coach Arnold Laniog is well aware that his troops have yet to tap into their maximum potential.
“Well kulang pa talaga. ‘Yung level na meron kami medyo hinahanap pa namin kung paano ilabas,” the chief tactician said. “Again, tiyagain lang talaga tsaka pasensya. Hindi naman sa lahat ng panahon eh maganda, so gan’un talaga. Kailangan lang matrabaho ulit.”
The Blazers couldn’t wrest the upper hand in the attacking department despite having the highest point-getter in Abrot, managing 37 hits to the Golden Stags’ 38. Blocks (6-6) and aces (2-1) also didn’t make quite a difference.
But the outcome of the match came down to who was more efficient. San Sebastian coughed out a whopping 30 errors to St. Benilde’s 15. In hindsight, the Golden Stags surrendered over a set worth of points off of miscues alone.
No thanks to its error-plagued performance, San Sebastian slid to 1-4.
David Honra and Dom Ramirez topped the Golden Stags with 10 markers apiece in a losing cause. Meanwhile, Julius Lana and John Mark Lim were limited to just six each.
St. Benilde eyes to sustain its winning momentum going when it collides with San Beda on Thursday, January 30. Meanwhile, San Sebastian tries to get back on track when it faces Mapua on Friday, January 31. Both matches will be held at the same venue.
