THE San Beda Lady Red Spikers are off to a rousing start in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Season 92 volleyball tournament with a straight set, 27-25, 25-17, 25-22, victory over the Emilio Aguinaldo College Lady Generals at the Fil-Oil Flying V Centre, San Juan last Monday evening.
Cesca Racraquin led San Beda’s swirling attack at the net which netted her a game-high 20 points. Satrriani Espiritu led the team’s stonewall defense at the net with four completed blocks out of 16 attempts to finish with nine points.
Ladeiheen Magbanua led the shocked Lady Generals with 11 points. EAC’s attackers could not get anything going especially with the fence erected at the net by the San Beda blockers led by the long-limbed Espiritu.
Meanwhile, tournament favorites San Sebastian College Lady Stags composed themselves in time to beat the Arellano University Lady Chiefs, 23-25, 26-28, 25-19, 25-18, 15-12, to share the early leadership with San Beda.
The Lady Red Spikers hope to advance to the NCAA Final Four for the first time ever. They will be coming off a stint in the 2016 Shakey’s V-League Collegiate Conference which no doubt helped the team smooth out kinks in their game.
While Racraquin and Espiritu dominated at the net, team captain and setter Becca Cuevas masterfully orchestrated her team’s offense with 35 excellent sets in just three sets.
Despite the lopsided victory Lady Red Spikers head coach Nemesio Gavino is far from satisfied with his team’s performance. His team tallied 29 errors which he hopes was only because of opening game jitters. Gavino realizes that the season is just starting and that they will have to do better if they want to set school history with a first-ever Final Four appearance in this season’s NCAA.