San Sebastian vs St. Benilde. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
San Sebastian and St. Benilde fight for the NCAA women’s volleyball championship today in what has been an unpredictable title series.
The Lady Stags—seemingly invincible right before the Finals—hope to have regained momentum against the Lady Blazers in in the do-or-die Finals match at 3:30 p.m. at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
“It’s not a sure thing, but I think it will be to our advantage because we’re coming off a win,” said San Sebastian coach Roger Gorayeb.
The Lady Stags forged a winner-take-all after downing the Lady Blazers, 25-22, 25-19, 26-28, 25-23, in Game 3 last Tuesday.
“Everyone just really needs to help,” Gorayeb said of the Lady Stags, who have been relying heavily on two-time Most Valuable Player Gretchel Soltones.
The Lady Stags hold a thrice-to-beat advantage, similar to a 1-0 lead in a best-of-five series, as incentive for sweeping the eliminations.
But after that 9-0 run, the Lady Stags got the biggest shock when the No. 4 Lady Blazers dealt them back-to-back losses in the Finals series.
Behind the trio of Janine Navarro, Jeanette Panaga and Ranya Musa, the Lady Blazers climbed from the bottom of the stepladder semifinals by upsetting third-ranked Perpetual and last year’s champion Arellano.