San Sebastian College-Recoletos averted a meltdown against a hungry San Beda University side, cruising to a 21-25, 25-23, 25-17, 18-25, 15-13, in the NCAA Season 100 women's volleyball tournament on Saturday.
The Lady Stags hung tough in the endgame to deal the Lady Red Spikers their sixth loss in as many games while improving their own record to 4-2.
Juna May Gonzales was the unlikely hero for San Sebastian, dropping a team-high 20 points anchored on 17 attacks, two aces, and one block while veterans Tina Marasigan and KJ Dionisio poured in 17 and 13 markers apiece.
Gonzales completed a combination play that would tie things up at 4-all in the deciding fifth set before Divine Garcia made it a 6-4 advantage for the Lady Stags. However, Gonzales' back-to-back attack errors saw a 6-all deadlock.
Marasigan then came up clutch with two consecutive hits that knotted the scoreline anew at 9-all in the tightly contested affair.
San Beda would still take a crucial 13-12 cushion off a Kath Molina kill from the opposite wing that ended a long rally. But composure prevailed for the Lady Stags with setter Von Dimaculangan finishing it off with a rare attack.
Incidentally, the loss spoiled a 26-point outburst from Lady Stag-turned-Lady Red Spiker Reyann Cañete, who also collected 10 digs and 12 receptions in an all-around effort.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
