TRISHA Crisostomo sets up a dig by SSC teammate Czarina Berbano in yesterday’s game. AUGUST DELA CRUZ
MANILA, Philippines — Smarting from a first loss, Davao quickly regained its focus to whip San Sebastian in straight sets, 25-18, 25-22, 25-23, Tuesday on the final day of the elimination round in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 First Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena.
May Agton unloaded all of her 15 points on kills and skipper Venus Flores also shone with 15 as the Agilas spoiled the Lady Stags’ bid to forge a playoff for the last quarterfinal berth.
The Lady Stags had hoped to forge a Group B tie at 2-3 with idle Far Eastern University, which got the free ride to the Final Eight. Despite the Agilas’ victory, University of Santo Tomas ended up claiming the top spot in Group B following a 25-15, 25-17, 25-17 drubbing of Perpetual Help.
Davao, UST and defending champion National University wrapped up their elimination campaigns with similar 4-1 records in Group B, but the Tigresses clinched the top spot because of a superior tiebreak score.
Standout rookie Ennajie Laure and Pam Lastimosa teamed up for 20 kills as the Tigresses blasted the Lady Altas with attacks, 41-23. Laure paced the Tigresses with 11 points and Lastimosa finished with 10.
The quarterfinal round gets going Thursday with the Agilas facing UAAP champion Ateneo, the topnotcher in Group A, at 4 p.m. after the 2 p.m. match between NU and Arellano.
“They wanted to win, so I told them to be patient and bring back the same calibre of performance [that we showed before],” said Davao coach Shane Alagao.