Perpetual, JRU spikers complete semifinal cast
Perpetual Help and Jose Rizal U turned back their respective rivals yesterday to clinch the last Final Four berths in the 93rd NCAA women’s volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.
The Lady Altas repulsed the St. Benilde Lady Blazers, 27-25, 25-23, 11-25, 32-30, while the Lady Bombers held off the Lyceum of the Phl U Lady Pirates, 25-13, 23-25, 25-11, 25-12, to advance the next round alongside the Arellano U Lady Chiefs and the San Beda Lady Red Spikers.
Perpetual Help closed out its elims campaign with a 7-2 (win-loss) record for third and will play second seed San Beda while JRU ended up at No. 4 with a 6-3 slate and will take on defending champion AU.
AU and San Beda wound up with identical 8-1 cards but the former took the top seeding with a better tiebreak score.
Perpetual Help coach Macky Carino praised his team’s composure late in the first, second and four sets in snatching the victory against St. Benilde.
CSB fell to joint fifth with San Sebastian with 5-4 marks.
“Those sets all could have gone either way but the girls just showed poise to get those important sets,” said Carino.
Cindy Imbo and Maria Lourdes Clemente delivered the clutch hits and finished with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
MVP contender Shola Alvarez, for her part, fired a match-best 23 points, including 16 kills, four service aces and three blocks while helping her JRU’s floor defense with nine digs and eight receptions.
“I’m happy for myself and the team because this is the first time for us to play in the Final Four,” said Alvarez, who is playing his fifth and final season with the Lady Bombers.