INQUIRER Sports

DEFENDING CHAMPION San Sebastian and Ateneo-OraCare clinched quarterfinal berths after pulling off straight sets victories Friday in the Shakey’s V-League Season 6 second conference at the FilOil-Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Bouncing back from a five-set loss to Far Eastern U, the San Sebastian volleybelles registered a 25-13, 28-26, 25-21 victory over Lyceum for their third triumph in four games.

“At least, we have achieved our initial goal to get into the top six,” said San Sebastian coach Roger Gorayeb.

Ateneo capitalized on the absence of St. Benilde key players Giza Yumang and Kara Agero to hammer out a 25-22, 25-13, 25-18 victory. The Lady Eagles improved to 3-2 for a tie of fourth with idle Adamson.

The Lady Stags climbed to third place behind the unbeaten University of Santo Tomas Tigresses (5-0) and the Far Eastern U Lady Tamaraws (5-1).

“Now our target is to make it to the semis but we know it will be tough,” said Gorayeb. “We just have to take it one game at a time.”

San Sebastian and Ateneo meet at 4 p.m. tomorrow.

Despite the loss, the Lady Blazers remain strong contenders for the last quarterfinal berth with a 1-4 card. Nursing faint hopes of advancing to the next round are winless teams Lyceum and University of the Philippines.

San Sebastian was pushed to the limit in the second set as it rallied from 20-23 down, behind Joy Benito and Margarita Pepito, whose smash wrapped up the victory.
The Lady Pirates put up another gutsy stand in the third set only for Benito to deliver the telling blows.

With the game deadlocked at 21, Benito struck two of San Sebastian’s next three points to put her team at match point.

Benito pumped in 18 hits while Jinni Mondejar and Melissa Mirasol added nine apiece for the reigning NCAA champions.

Fille Cainglet paced the Lady Eagles with 16 points and teammate Angeline Gervacio finished with 14 hits.

Ateneo guest player Charo Soriano also tossed in nine points, while skipper Denise Acevedo added seven points.

The Lady Eagles wound up tied at fourth with the idle Adamson Lady Falcons at 3-2.

Without leading scorer Yumang and Agero, the Lady Blazers proved easy picking for the Lady Eagles. Yumang and Agero skipped the game as they decided to see action in the UniGames in Iloilo City.

Only guest player Rosann Fajardo delivered her usual numbers with nine points. Zharmaine Velez and Katty Kwan struggled in the face of Ateneo’s solid net defense and were held to just eight points each.