COLLEGE of St. Benilde leaned on the duo of Rachelle Anne Austero and Ranya Musa in the last two sets to turn back a stubborn Emilio Aguinaldo College, 25-17, 18-25, 21-25, 25-18, 15-7, yesterday and get back on the winning track in the women’s division of the 93rd NCAA volleyball tournament at the Filoil Arena in San Juan City.
Austero unloaded a match-best 17 hits, while Musa scattered 15, but it was their clutch hits in the fourth and fifth sets that helped the Lady Blazers escape the upset axe, claim their third victory and end a two-game losing slump.
CSB gave EAC a chance to steal the win with the former committing a whopping 48 errors.
“We really need to lessen our mistakes if we want to have a chance in this tournament,” said CSB coach Arnold Laniog, whose squad fell to San Beda, 22-25, 26-24, 25-27, 19-25, and San Sebastian, 25-23, 23-25, 19-25, 23-25, last week.
The Lady Generals, in contrast, continued to plummet as they fell to their fifth straight defeat.
Interestingly, EAC’s last two outings came via the full, five-set route, including a heartbreaking 25-22, 19-25, 14-25, 25-23, 13-15 setback to Perpetual Help also last week.
In men’s action, CSB clawed back from a two-set deficit to turn back EAC, 19-25, 20-25, 25-7, 25-14, 15-11, and hike its slate to 4-1.
The Generals fell to 2-3.
In the second game, San Beda College outlasted Letran, 17-25, 25-15, 25-16, 27-29, 15-12, to rejoin Arellano University at the helm with five wins apiece.
The Lady Red Spikers went to Cesca Racraquin again as the new Pocari Sweat standout made his presence felt in both offense and defense with 17 hits including 17 on attacks and 13 digs and nine receptions.
The Lady Knights slipped to 2-3.