San Beda University overcame a Set 1 blunder to eke out a 26-28, 26-24, 27-25, 25-20 win against Mapua University in the NCAA Season 101 women's volleyball on Wednesday at the San Andres Sports Complex in Manila.
The Lady Red Spikers made two costly errors late in the opening frame, but they showed their comeback spirit in the next two sets before convincingly taking the fourth frame to take their third win in a row.
San Beda, whose only loss so far came against unbeaten Colegio de San Juan de Letran, improved to 6-1 in Group B while the Lady Cardinals fell to their third consecutive loss, moving to 2-4 in Group A.
San Beda claimed the set point in the opening frame, 24-23, but Mapua tied things up and eventually snatched the set away following two consecutive attack errors from Janelle Bachar and Angel Habacon.
Undeterred, San Beda displayed the same fighting spirit Mapua had shown earlier.
Down 22-24 in Set 2, the wards of new coach Kungfu Reyes unloaded a huge 4-0 blast capped by a service ace from Chynna Castillo as they leveled the match.
A similar narrative unfolded in Set 3, where Mapua gained an early lead by building a 22-17 lead but the Mendiola crew slowly erased the deficit and forced a 25-all deadlock.
Setter Gina Espina then made a huge denial on Freighanne Garcia before Jermaine Joniega replicated the same rejection in the next play, allowing San Beda to move a set away from completing the victory.
Habacon, the leading scorer in the women's division, furnished the finishing kick by unleashing two straight attacks in Set 4 to close Mapua out.
The third-year outside spiker posted 22 points and 10 receptions while Bachar produced 23 markers and 14 digs. Jeliane Catubig was also solid with her 12 points.
Garcia took charge for Mapua in yet another losing effort, dropping 22 points, 18 digs, and seven receptions while Raissa Ricablanca and Nicole Ong chipped in 13 markers apiece.
—JKC, GMA Integrated News
