Lady Pirates stun Stags, near V-League semifinal

MANILA, Philippines - Lyceum showed its readiness to contend for the crown as it stunned San Sebastian, 25-19, 19-25, 19-25, 26-24, 15-11, to assure itself of at least a playoff for the second semifinal berth in Group A in the Shakey’s V-League Season 7 at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan yesterday.

The Lady Pirates neutralized the Lady Stags’ vaunted power game with their solid net defense, coming up with season-high 17 blocks to seize the group lead with a 2-0 slate and move closer to a first stint in the semis in two seasons.

“We prepared well for this match especially our blocking. If you noticed they had a hard time scoring against our defense,” said Lyceum coach Emil Lontoc after the near two-hour match.

With their net defense holding, Thai import Porntip Santrong and Joy Cases took care of Lyceum’s offense, combining for 50 hits, including Santrong’s season-high 30-point output.

“I just told them to be aggressive and stay confident all the time,” said Lontoc.

SSC slid to 1-1.

Defending champion University of Santo Tomas also moved closer to another semis stint as it blasted St. Benilde, 25-10, 25-20, 25-14, in a Group B match in the second game.

Maika Ortiz scored 10 hits while MVP Aiza Maizo and Angeli Tabaquero added nine points each for the Tigresses, who matched the Pirates’ 2-0 card.

Guest players Jennifer Manzano and Cindy Optana combined for 14 hits while Giza Yumang added six points for the Lady Blazers, who dropped to 0-2.

The Lady Pirates need only to beat Univ. of St. La Salle-Bacolod to advance to the Final Four for the first time since the 2008 first conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and presented by PLDT MyDSL.

The victory was also Lyceum’s first over SSC since the 2006 first conference where the Pirates also snatched a five-set thriller, 25-6, 22-25, 25-18, 23-25, 15-13, in the semis.

The Lady Stags, who lost the first set but took the next two, actually looked headed for a win after surging ahead at 20-18 in the fourth.

But Santrong, Cases and Dahlia Cruz put their act together and rallied Lyceum to win eight of the last 10 points to force the decider.

The Lady Pirates kept the momentum of their fourth set win with the 21-year-old Santrong dominating counterpart Jeng Bualee and the rest backing her up with a solid floor and net defense.

Nica Guliman’s mishit enabled SSC to close within, 8-9, but Santrong, who had five blocks, knocked in four straight hits to give Lyceum a 14-10 cushion.

Bualee finished with 26 points but struggled in the fifth set when the Lady Stags needed her power most. - With reports from Aldo Aviñante