ARELLANO University made short work of Lyceum of the Philippines University, 25-16, 25-17, 25-11, yesterday to streak to its fifth straight victory in the women’s division of the 93rd NCAA volleyball tournament at the Filoil Atena in San Juan City.
Rookie Necole Ebuen uncorked a match-high 11 points, while team captain Mary Ann Esguerra, Regine Anne Arocha and Andrea Marzan added 10 each to help power the Lady Chiefs to the top, while leaving behind the idle San Beda Lady Red Spikers, who have a pristine 4-0 (win-loss) mark.
Their solid efforts more than made up for Jovielyn Prado’s forgettable three-hit performance.
Perpetual Help, for its part, survived an error-prone effort as it trounced Jose Rizal, 25-21, 22-25, 25-14, 25-21, to keep its stranglehold on the third spot.
Maria Lourdes Clemente paced the Lady Altas with 19 hits, including 14 on kills and two on blocks, while Cindy Imbo chipped in 18 points to help them solidify their hold of third with a 4-1 (win-loss) slate.
Perpetual Help coach Macky Carino, however, rued his team’s poor services.
“We got really improve our service, which was really bad in the first two sets especially in the second set,” said Carino, whose team committed a whopping 35 errors, the bulk came on services. “If we can do that, we’ll have a strong chance to this season.”
While Clemente and Imbo did most of the heavy lifting, Hershey Kate Llorente made the most out of her first start of her collegiate career and finished with seven points.
“I gave her (Llorente) an opportunity and I’m happy she made the most of it,” said Carino.
Perpetual Help was quick to plunge back into training in the evening of the same day as it will take on AU, the reigning titlist, next on Tuesday.
“We have little time to prepare so we got to practice tonight (yesterday),” said Carino.
Perpetual Help also found a way to slow down Shola Alvarez, who wound up with only 15 points after coming into the match averaging a league-high 22.
Rookie Dolly Grace Versoza stepped up when Alvarez struggled, unloading a career-best 21 points.
But it wasn’t enough to prevent the Lady Bombers from skidding to their third defeat against two triumphs.
Earlier, Perpetual Help waylaid Jose Rizal, 25-17, 25-16, 25-20, to seize the solo lead in the men’s side.
