Right after St. Benilde picked up its fourth win in as many games, head coach Jerry Yee went straight to the locker room, barely acknowledging sportswriters waiting for him. Lately he had been avoiding postgame interviews.
The previous wins, the Lady Blazers assigned top players Gayle Pascual and Mycah Go, and assistant mentor, Jay Chua, to the press room.
Word got around it was because of superstition. Two days before the Chinese New Year, so went the rumor, Yee didn’t want to jinx the Lady Blazers’ winning streak.
St. Benilde on Thursday stretched that after an easy 25-20, 25-21, 25-17 triumph over overmatched Emilio Aguinaldo in the 95th NCAA women’s volleyball at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
“Not really, but coach Jerry would like all the coaches to get exposed,” said yet another assistant coach, Charmaine Geronimo, who filled for him on Thursday.
The important thing for the Lady Blazers, according to Geronimo, is that they peak at the right time.
“The players are physically and mentally prepared to last the entire season, that’s why we use all the players in the bench so nobody will be overused,” Geronimo added.
Sure enough, sensational rookies Go and Pascual only saw action in the third set as the stringers proved enough to deal the Lady Generals their third straight defeat.
Earlier, three-time defending champion Arellano drubbed Jose Rizal, 25-19, 25-16, 25-17, to also remain unbeaten after three matches.
The Lady Chiefs successfully pinned down top Lady Bomber Dolly Verzosa, who was limited to eight points after averaging 18 points the past two games.
The Lady Bombers dropped to 0-3.