MANILA, Philippines – Perpetual Help and Arellano arranged a best-of-three championship duel after beating separate opponents in similar fashion in the NCAA Season 89 women’s volleyball Final Four Monday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The Lady Altas kept their ‘three-peat’ bid going after blanking San Sebastian, 25-22, 25-21, 25-20, while the Lady Chiefs made quick work of College of St. Benilde also in straight sets, 25-15, 25-22, 25-20, to cap off the single-round semifinals.
“I didn’t tell them about the possible scenarios,” said Perpetual Help head coach Sammy Acaylar in Filipino. “I just want them to play with a heart of a champion. I wanted them to play hard because this is a very important game.”
Arellano, Perpetual Help and St. Benilde finished with identical 2-1 records but with superior quotient, the Lady Chiefs went on to avoid any complications while the Lady Altas, needing only three sets to prevail, broke the tie with the Lady Blazers to secure the other finals seat.
Game 1 of the finale is set on Friday pegged at 1:30pm at the same venue.
Honey Royse Tubino and reigning MVP Norie Diaz combined for 30 hits to lead Perpetual Help’s attack while the top-seeded Arellano, which will be making its first trip to the Finals since joining the league in 2009, drew double-digit scoring from its three players led by Danna Henson’s 19.
Menchie Tubiera had an all-around effort with 15 points, including two blocks, to go along with nine digs while CJ Rosario added 11 points, three coming off blocks, for the Lady Chiefs, whose defense were as superb as their offense.
“I told the girls to just give everything you can,” said Arellano coach Obet Javier. “We prepared really well against their attacks and we did a good job on our reception.”
Arellano limited the Lady Blazers’ main weapons Jannine Navarro, Jeanette Panaga and Therese Veronas to just 24 points combined with Navarro and Panaga scoring measly nine and five points, respectively.