ATTACKING without letup, Ateneo stayed perfect in the Shakey’s V-League Season 9 First Conference with a 25-16, 25-22, 25-22 smashing of University of St. La Salle-Bacolod yesterday at the start of the quarterfinals at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The Lady Eagles drew superb efforts from setter Jem Ferrer and attackers Angeline Gervacio and Alyssa Valdez as they jacked up their record to 4-0 and moved closer to a semifinal berth.
Gervacio finished with 12 points, including the kill that sealed the victory in close to an hour, while Valdez contributed 10 for the Lady Eagles, who got 45 excellent sets from Ferrer.
Earlier, Perpetual Help moved up to third after a tough 25-23, 25-22, 26-24 win over Adamson.
Sandra Delos Santos finished with 19 points, including three service aces, while Thai import Pornpimol Kunbang delivered 13 to help the Lady Altas improve to 3-1.
The Lady Altas rallied from 16-20 in the third set with Pornpimol, Delos Santos and April Sartin doing the damage up front.
Honey Tubino did a fine job on the defensive end, foiling Sheila Pineda’s attack that quelled Adamson’s comeback hopes, after the Thai tied the third frame at 24.
Nerissa Bautista paced Adamson with 22 points, while Ma. Paulina Soriano racked up 16 points.
The bulk of Bautista’s points came in the first set, where the Lady Falcons pulled away early only to be held back by three consecutive errors from Pineda.
Adamson was also in the thick of the fight in the second set, but Pornpimol struck to give Perpetual a 24-22 lead.
“We have good movement, and the whole team is jelling,” said Perpetual coach Mike Rafael. “But our defense needs some work. We allowed so many attacks from Bautista.”
Ateneo coach Roger Gorayeb was satisfied at the way his squad coped with the threat posed by the Lady Stingers, who fell to 0-4, after their elimination-round record was carried over to the quarterfinals.
“The last two sets were close and I’m happy we managed to pull through,” said Gorayeb in Filipino. With reports from Jan Edward Ballesteros and Rodolfo Lozada, Contributors