NCAA volleyball: St. Benilde turns back Perpetual to kick off bid

MANILA, Philippines—St. Benilde upended Perpetual Help, 25-17, 14-25, 25-17, 25-20, in the matchup of Final Four contenders in the NCAA Season 95 women’s volleyball tournament Friday at Filoil Flying V Center.

The Lady Blazers, Season 94’s top seed, relied on the duo of Gayle Pascua and Jade Gentapa who had 15 and 12 points, respectively, but got ample support from their other teammates.

Diane Ventura and Mycah Go added nine and eight points, respectively, while Michelle Gamit and substitute Klarisa Abriam combined for 10 points.

Go said that her team had lapses especially in the first two sets and she hopes they could fix it in the coming games.

“Hopefully we can improve on our mistakes and correct our mistakes for the future,” said the 19-year-old Go.

She added that they have to work around the pressure of repeating or even exceeding their finish from a year ago.

The Lady Blazers were tied with defending champion Arellano University with 8-1 records but lost to University of Perpetual Help in the semifinals.

“Of course we feel the pressure like some of the other volleyball athletes from other schools,” said Go. “We’re all playing here so no pressure for us.”

Collectively, the Lady Blazers outscored the Lady Altas in terms of spikes 50-36.

Jhona Rosal led Perpetual, the silver medal winner in Season 94, with 15 points while Bianca Tripoli and Dana Persa had 10 points apiece.