University of Santo Tomas whipped up its own storm Saturday night.
While incessant rains swamped the metropolis, UST unleashed a torrent of kills inside Filoil Flying V Centre, flushing St. Benilde in straight sets to formally punch a ticket to the semifinals of the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference.
UST found itself falling into some sort of a lull by the end of the first two sets but still got found enough in its tank to score a 26-24, 29-27, 25-17 triumph, its fifth straight in the conference.
The Lady Blazers tried to put up a resistance, racing back from big deficits late in the first and second frames to even take set points ahead of the Tigresses.
UST was ahead, 17-6, in the first when St. Benilde clawed back to make it 23-all and even took a 24-23 lead. But the Lady Blazers got too excited and committed errors that allowed the Tigresses to claim the set.
Almost the same thing happened in the second frame when UST took a 23-19 lead only to be tied once again at 23 en route to a back-and-forth in the extended set.
But UST didn’t take chances in the third set, tearing away with a 19-12 lead it protected all the way to the end.
UST will face Adamson and Far Eastern University for its last assignments, which could gauge the Tigresses’ readiness to be in championship form again.
Earlier, San Beda finally broke into the scoring column after overcoming San Sebastian, 25-14, 21-25, 25-20, 25-16.
Cesca Racraquin unloaded 18 points for San Beda to tow along two other players in double-digit scoring—Maria Nieza Viray and Satriami Espiritu who added 15 and 13, respectively. The Lady Red Spikers outgunned the Lady Stags, 46-34, in attacks.
Joyce Sta. Rita and Sofia Sarmiento helped San Sebastian’s cause with a combined 23 points but failed to get enough support from the rest of the team.
The Lady Red Spikers still have a slim chance of making the next round provided they win all three remaining matches and those in the higher rungs of the standings drop their remaining assignments.
The win was fifth straight for former NCAA champions Lady Stags, who crashed out of the title chase.