Alex Razonable and Erica Bodonal led from the front to spearhead Emilio Aguinaldo College's 25-18, 25-15, 25-15 major upset over erstwhile surging Mapua University in the NCAA Season 100 women's volleyball tournament on Wednesday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
Razonable racked up 15 points anchored on 13 attacks and two blocks while rookie Bodonal chipped in 13 markers together with five receptions as the Lady Generals improved to 3-7.
More impressively, the victory snapped the Lady Cardinals’ seven-game winning streak—one that had been intact since March 7, when they edged Lyceum of the Philippines University in a five-set thriller.
But EAC didn’t just win, they dominated from start to finish.
After securing two convincing wins in the first two sets, the Lady Generals didn't rest on their laurels with Razonable completing a combination play before an Anne Formento one-man block on Raissa Ricablanca helped EAC mount a 16-0 lead in the third.
Bodonal then came up with back-to-back hits while Cara Dayanan squeezed the ball through her defenders on the opposite side for a 22-12 cushion. An error-plagued Mapua tried to solve the woes with team captain Tere Manalo unloading a quick kill late.
But that wasn't enough to wake the Lady Cardinals up as Razonable took advantage of a scrambling Mapua defense, killing it from the left wing to deliver the match point at 24-14.
It was EAC’s veteran middle blocker Jamaica Villena who sealed the win, delivering a perfectly timed push attack off the setup from Formento at the middle.
Mapua had a tough offensive afternoon with only Ricablanca reaching a double-digit scoring of 11 points while also grabbing nine digs.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
