Sophomore star Gia Maquilang remained unstoppable as Colegio de San Juan de Letran extended its impressive run in NCAA Season 100 women's beach volleyball tournament on Wednesday in Subic, Zambales.
The Lady Knights continued their surge after picking up another pair of victories against Lyceum of the Philippines University (21-18, 21-17) and De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (21-12, 16-21, 15-11) as they kicked off their three-peat bid on a high note.
Against the Lady Pirates, reigning Rookie MVP Maquilang broke a 16-all deadlock with a power tip before her senior Lara Mae Silva caught the endline to send the two-time defending champions to an 18-17 lead.
LPU, bannered by Monna Banares and Stacey Lopez, committed back-to-back attack errors before Maquilang ended a long rally that sealed the victory for the Lady Knights.
But the Lady Knights had to work doubly hard in their second match of the day after dropping the second set against the upset-seeking Lady Blazers.
Down 14-9, the tandem of Doreen Baguio and Mary Baba scored two consecutive points to save Benilde two match points but Baguio went wide on her serve that enabled Letran to bag the victory and improve to 4-0.
Meanwhile in the men's division, University of Perpetual Help System DALTA went past Arellano University and San Sebastian College-Recoletos to hike its standing to 4-0 while Letran had an even results in Day 2.
The Knights opened its day with a three-set escape against LPU, 21-15, 12-21, 18-16, before losing steam and bowing to Benilde in three sets, 21-13, 12-21, 12-15.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
