NCAA volleyball: Arellano off to strong start, blanks Lyceum in opener

MANILA, Philippines—Arellano started off its four-peat bid with an emphatic victory over Lyceum, 27-25, 25-20, 25-20, in the opening match of the NCAA Season 95 women’s volleyball tournament Friday at Filoil Flying V Center.

With reigning MVP Necole Ebuen still recovering from surgery, the Lady Chiefs relied on Regine Arrocha and Carla Donato to provide the points.

Two-time Finals MVP Arrocha led all scorers with 18 points going 18-of-36 on her spike attempts while Donato pitched in 12 points with seven of those coming off blocks.

Ebuen, who’s recovering from surgery on her ovaries, tallied three points.

Arellano head coach Obet Javier said that even though they started off on the right track, his team isn’t at the level of winning a championship yet.

“Well we really don’t acknowledge the pressure of a four-peat possibility and we’re just doing what we can for the school, but the way we’re playing right now is not worthy of a four-peat,” said Javier in Filipino.

“But we’ll get to that level.”

The Lady Chiefs, who are looking for their fifth title in six years, raced to an early 8-2 lead in the final set in what eventually became their foundation to close out the Lady Pirates.

Arrocha put them up 22-12 with an off-the-block kill but Lyceum still had some fight left and got to as close as four, 24-20, but a service error from Alexandra Rafael sealed Arellano’s opening day win.

Rafael had 12 points to lead the Lady Pirates.