The Lady Stags get a new lease in life. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
San Sebastian College looked like it old itself as it grounded College of St. Benilde, 25-22, 25-19, 26-28, 25-23, to extend the Finals series to a fourth game in the NCAA Women’s Volleyball Tournament Tuesday at San Juan Arena.
It took the combined heroics of Gretchel Soltones and Dangie Encarnacion to hold off the Lady Blazers in the final moments of the fourth set.
After the Lady Blazers wiped the Lady Stags four-point lead and tied the game at 23, Encarnacion found an open spot in the CSB defense for the 24-23 matchpoint.
Then it was the MVP Soltones who gave the Lady Stags a new breath of life with a crosscourt attack.
Lady Stags head coach Roger Gorayeb said he saw the team that went 14-0 in the eliminations during their do-or-die game–a team that had the desire and the focus to put an opponent away.
“I made them guilty and reminded them that they worked hard for there, I told them, ‘Will you just give this up just like? You’re deserving to be here, why are you playing like this?’” Gorayeb told his team before the game. “Earlier I saw the old team in them, they weren’t letting balls fall, they really worked hard.”
Gorayeb also made a little tweak in his starting six by putting in Deniece Lim and Dangie Encarnacion, who both ended up with six points each but the change provided a boost for the team nonetheless.
Soltones was still the game’s leading scorer with 31 points but her teammates heeded the Gorayeb’s call to step up in the game.
“Their intensity and desire were back,” Gorayeb said whose thrice-to-beat advantage was a false notion for them. “That thrice-to-beat advantage, that’s deceiving. You may have the thrice-to-beat but you have to beat the other twice, so it doesn’t seem like you have the edge.”
Katherine Villegas added 11 points for the Lady Stags while Nikka Dalisay added eight.
Janine Navarro led the Lady Blazers with 16 points while Ranya Musa and Jeanette Panaga had 13 points apiece.