De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde claimed a giant scalp after upsetting Arellano University, 33-35, 25-23, 25-21, 25-18, to remain alive in the NCAA Season 99 men's volleyball tournament on Wednesday at FilOil EcoOil Centre.
The Blazers banked on the troika of James Marasigan, Leonard Jaboli, and Jacob Herrera to arrest the four-game win streak of the Chiefs and improve their record to 2-4 while the latter dropped to 4-2, but remained seated at third spot still.
Marasigan erupted for a huge double-double of 17 points and 26 excellent receptions to star in the huge upset.
Jaboli detonated for a double-double outing as well with 16 points anchored on 15 attacks and one block while also grabbing six digs and 14 receptions, while the lefty Herrera churned out 16 markers as well to help the squad end a two-game slump.
The trio starred in a grueling four-setter, which saw them surrender the opening frame after an extended clash with the Chiefs.
However, the wards of head coach Arnold Laniog regrouped in the succeeding sets with Herrera bringing them to a 16-13 cushion in the fourth frame while a Jaboli down-the-line hit made it an 18-15 affair in their favor.
Back-to-back errors from Arellano sent Benilde to a 21-17 upper hand before Marasigan soared above his defenders to send them to a 23-18 lead while he used the hands of the blockers to deliver the match point.
An attack error from Jan Wil Sinuto completed the hard-fought victory for Benilde, which came on the heels of a five-set meltdown against Letran last Sunday.
Benilde head coach Arnold Laniog said that prior to the game, he told his players to just focus on gaining experience.
"The focus ng team is every game, maka-experience tayo and kung ma-overcome natin 'yung di nako-control na situation, maganda, mas mag-gain tayo," Laniog told GMA News Online.
"Sabi ko, mas may pressure sa kalaban kasi sila ang nasa winning column, wala nang reason para ma-pressure pa tayo tulad ng nakaraang games. Iparamdam lang natin sa kanila na maglalaro lang tayo para sila ang ma-pressure, that's what happened naman," he added.
(The focus of the team is every game, we should gain experience and overcome those we could not control in the game. We could gain more. There is more pressure for them because they are in the winning column, there is no reason for us to be pressured unlike our previous games. Let's make them feel that we are just playing and I believe that's what happened.)
AC Guinto paced Arellano with 16 points and 30 receptions while Anfernee Curamen and Jiwen Sinuto each tallied 12 markers.
—Bea Micaller/JKC, GMA Integrated News
