Lady Blazers shock Lady Stags in four

St. Benilde celebrates/ Contributed Photo

The St. Benilde Lady Blazers came out to shock yet again.

Hardly given a chance in the duel, the Lady Blazers dealt San Sebastian its first loss of the season, 24-26, 25-21, 25-19, 25-13, Tuesday to take Game 1 of the NCAA volleyball title series at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

“The girls really wanted to win; you can see it in their actions, coach Macky Carino said of his brazen Lady Blazers, who climbed all the way from the No. 4 spot to reach the title series.

Jeanette Panaga and Janine Navarro spurred the improbable win. (See picture on A21)

While Navarro fueled the attacks for 16 kills in a 19-point outing, Panaga accounted for half of her team’s 12 aces and posted all but two of the team’s 10 blocks for a team-best 23 points.

The Lady Blazers evened the virtual best-of-five series to 1-1. The Lady Stags, who jumped straight to the finals after a 9-0 sweep of the eliminations, came into the game with a thrice-to-beat edge.

But the long break perhaps took a toll on the Lady Stags as the Lady Blazers duplicated their upsets of No. 3 Perpetual Help and last year’s champion Arellano in the stepladder semifinals.

In men’s action, Emilio Aguinaldo College moved within a win of a second straight title after downing Perpetual Help, 25-22, 14-25, 25-14, 25-16, in Game 1 of their best-of-three.

Both schools also battled in the juniors finals, but the Junior Altas came out triumphant over the Brigadiers, 25-13, 25-18, 25-16.