MANILA, Philippines - St. Benilde bucked Gretchel Soltones’ 27-hit effort as it carved out a 24-26, 25-21, 25-19, 25-13 victory yesterday to foil San Sebastian’s sweep bid in the 91st NCAA women’s volleyball tournament before a packed crowd at The Arena in San Juan City.
Jeanette Panaga and Janine Navarro combined for 43 hits as they negated the reigning MVP Soltones’ output to power the Lady Blazers to victory and reduced the series to a best-of-three.
Panaga and Navarro took charge in the final three frames where St. Benilde dominated San Sebastian after barely losing the opening set.
“They stepped up after losing the first set,” said St. Benilde coach Michael Carino, referring to Panaga and Navarro.
Soltones dished out another solid game, scoring almost at will with her power spikes. But she failed to draw solid backup from the rest of the team while the other Lady Blazers chipped in big numbers, including Ranya Musa, who came off the bench to fire 10 hits.
Earlier, Emilio Aguinaldo College turned back Perpetual Help, 25-22, 14-25, 25-14, 25-16, to move a win away from clinching its second straight men’s crown.
Perpetual Help routed Emilio Aguinaldo, 25-13, 25-18, 25-16, yesterday to move closer to retaining the NCAA juniors volleyball crown.