Colegio de San Juan de Letran leaned on Bembem Bautista to deepen the struggles of Emilio Aguinaldo College with a 27-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-13 win, snapping its skid in the NCAA Season 100 men’s volleyball tournament on Tuesday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre
The 24-year-old Bautista poured in a team-high 19 points anchored on 16 attacks, two blocks, and one ace alongside seven digs as the Knights snapped out of a two-game slump that saw them bowing to San Beda and Perpetual to improve to 7-5.
The Generals, who are playing without Ruther Abor and Paul Justine Say, absorbed their third straight loss to go 3-9.
"Sinabi namin sa mga sarili namin na win na dapat, hindi na pwedeng talo. Sobrang higpitan na ngayon ng ranking. Every game at every win ay mahalaga," Bautista told GMA News Online.
"Hangga't maaari, umpisa pa lang ng bawat laro ibigay na agad 'yung 100 percent para hindi na kami maunahan."
[We told ourselves we needed to win, a loss was unacceptable. The rankings are so tight now. Every game and every win is important... If we can help it, we need to give our 100 percent from the very start of games so we don't fall behind.]
The game broke wide open in the fourth set when Letran turned a slim 12-9 lead to an 18-10 cushion behind the net authority from two-time Best Middle Blocker Vince Himzon, whose two rejections on EAC's Michael Gela and Joshua Olivo gave the Knights an eight-point advantage.
But Letran had to hold its breath when starting opposite hitter Lorenz Vicente landed awkwardly after a block attempt and had to be helped off the court
Still, the Knights found a way to close out the game when Bautista sparked a 7-2 rampage, which also saw another middle blocker in Dave Lardizabal dropping three quick attacks.
Himzon chipped in 14 points built on five blocks while Vicente and Lardizabal chimed in with 13 and 12 markers.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
