Joan Doguna brought calm and leadership when needed most as she powered Lyceum of the Philippines University to a 21-25, 25-21, 29-31, 25-14, 15-12 win over University of Perpetual Help System DALTA in the NCAA Season 100 women's volleyball tournament on Wednesday.
The veteran outside spiker poured in one of her best games this season with 27 points anchored on 23 attacks, including five in the deciding frame, to go with three aces and one block while also grabbing 11 digs.
The Lady Pirates have also won their third straight game to improve to 4-6 and breathe life back to their Final Four chances while the Lady ALTAs fell to a 7-3 card.
Doguna was at the forefront in the final frame as the seasoned spiker helped force an 8-all deadlock before another kill from her had them cutting the gap to one at 9-10.
LPU would enforce another tied game at 10-all when Lady Pirates head coach Cromwell Garcia insisted to replay a challenge after a quick kill of Perpetual middle blocker Daizerlyn Uy was initially called in favor of the Lady ALTAs due to a block touch. But a different angle of the play proved there wasn't a touch, hence a point for LPU.
That sparked the fight in the Lady Pirates as Heart Bio launched a quick kill of her own before Doguna soared for the open hammer, bringing LPU to a 13-11 cushion.
Bio then shut the door against Shaila Omipon to deliver the match point, but the latter responded with a power move to save one point.
Exhausted and all, Doguna proved her side was the hungrier one as she leaped from the right side and destroyed a two-woman block to finish it off.
Supplying the help to Doguna were Johna Dolorito and Jaja Tulang with the former posting 20 points and 18 receptions while the latter poured in 14 markers.
Perpetual had many bright spots in the loss with Omipon leading the charge with 19 points. Lefty opposite hitter Pauline Reyes and Jemalyn Menor chipped in 16 and 13 markers each.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
