National College of Business and Arts edged out University of the East, 25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 18-25, 16-14, and moved on to the quarterfinals of the Spikers’ Turf Collegiate Conference Wednesday at San Juan Arena.
Ralph Oclima found the right spot down the right side of the Red Warriors’ field with a simple tap to give the Wildcats the 3-2 win-loss record after the tumultuous five-setter.
Wildcats head coach Ernesto Balubar said he had to boost his team’s confidence going into the game after suffering back-to-back losses.
“The confidence of the team after losing two straight was not high,” Balubar said after NCBA team won its first two games in the preliminaries. “I kept telling them ‘you can do it, nothing is impossible.'”
“As for me, I’m like the captain of the ship, you’re the last one to jump off the boat.”
NCBA had a 14-12 bubble in the fifth set after Lee Nidua tapped one in, but the Wildcats lost three match points with Ruvince Abrot sending one down the line to tie the set, 14-14, for the Red Warriors.
Reyson Fuentes, who finished with 12 points, gave the Wildcats the final match point with a running spike down the middle.
Oclima and Canlas added 11 points apiece for the Wildcats.
Edard Camposano led the 0-5 Red Warriors with 20 points while Abrot had 15.