It's all and everything for De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde and University of Perpetual Help System DALTA when they go for the clincher in Game 2 of their respective finals series in the NCAA Season 99 volleyball tournaments on Sunday.
The Lady Blazers will seek to complete a rare three-peat feat in the women's division as they take on an unpredictable Colegio de San Juan de Letran in their 2 p.m. clash at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.
Benilde was coming off a dominant Game 1 triumph, where the Taft crew overcame a sluggish start before regaining consciousness in the second and third sets to send the Lady Knights crashing back to reality.
Coming into Game 2, the Lady Blazers are tipped to once again lean on their veterans.
The graduating duo of Mich Gamit and Gayle Pascual shone in the series opener a week ago, hammering 14 points each to let sophomore Zam Nolasco's 12-point outing not go to waste.
Team captain Jessa Dorog also shone with an all-around brilliance last time out, pouring in nine markers, 13 digs, and five receptions as the Jerry Yee-mentored squad inched closer to history.
While the odds are obviously in their favor, Yee fired a warning to his wards to not get complacent against the Lady Knights, who will be looking to extend the series no matter what.
"May isang game pa. Trabaho pa rin. Puwedeng manalo doon or puwedeng magkaproblema so kailangang ayusin lahat," Yee said as they hope to deliver the school's first-ever three-peat.
"'Marami tayong ire-review, marami tayong details na ico-correct, marami tayong talks na gagawin. Marami pang corrections eh."
(There's still one game. We still need to work. We can win there or have problems so we need to fix every thing that is needed to be fixed. We will review a lot, we need to still correct some details, we have a lot of talks to do and more corrections.)
Meanwhile, the Perpetual ALTAs are chasing history as well.
They will square off one more time against a determined Emilio Aguinaldo College side in bid to extend their three-season reign in the men's volleyball tournament. This could be the school's second four-peat in just 14 years.
Perpetual, which is guided by decorated coach Sammy Acaylar, pulled off a hard-fought four-set escape of the Generals in Game 1 with the graduating team captain Louie Ramirez clicking on all cylinders with 23 points and 23 receptions while sophomore star Jeff Marapoc chipped in huge numbers with his 20 markers and seven digs.
However, it isn't just Ramirez and Marapoc that EAC should prepare for as Acaylar will make sure that everyone from the squad will contribute and leave nothing to chance.
Alongside Ramirez, four other ALTAs are set to play their potential last collegiate game with graduating JC Enarciso, Michael Medalla, John Pepito, and Paul Teodoro.
"Sabi ko sa setter ko na mag-iwan sila ng legacy sa school and of course, 'yung lima it's very hard na mapalitan pero may mga reserve naman," Acaylar said.
(I told my setter to leave a legacy to the school and of course, those five will be hard to replace but we have our reserves.)
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
