Lady Chiefs fuel F4 drive

Arellano strengthened its semifinal bid after an easy 25-16, 25-15, 25-18 win over lowly Technological Institute of the Philippines Monday night in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Lady Chiefs, reigning NCAA champions, bounced back from a previous defeat and posted their third victory in four outings, while handing the Lady Engineers their fourth setback in as many games.

Using its offense to the hilt, Arellano buried TIP with a 17-3 edge in attacks in the second set, allowing it to have a 20-6 bubble to illustrate the discrepancy between the two teams in terms of talent and skills.

That lead allowed the Lady Chiefs to rest gunners Andrea Marzan and Regine Arocha in favor of seldom-used players.

But the Lady Engineers soon started to claw back, forcing Arellano assistant coach Richard Estacio to send his regular gunners back in and preserve the set.

Arocha topscored with 17 points, while Jovielyn Prado had eight.

“We are a strong team because we have team work,” said Arocha, who dedicated the win to their coach Obert Javier, who was indisposed.

Earlier, University of the Philippines revived its campaign after a thorough 25-19, 25-13,
25-19 triumph over St. Benilde.

The Lady Maroons were never threatened throughout the match as top gunners Isa Molde and Diane Carlos took on their roles to the hilt to ensure their second win in three starts.

It also practically booted out the Lady Blazers, who suffered their third straight defeat. Only the top two teams per group will make it to the semifinals.

UP stormed to 19-8 lead on Molde’s angled hit in the third set, but for some reason, the Lady Maroons let their guards down to allow the Lady Blazers’ fightback.

Rachel Austero tried to fire up St. Benilde, scoring on a hit and an ace to close in to 15-20. Carlos and Justine Dorog committed errors in succession to allow the Lady Blazers to move within 19-21.

But the climb tolled heavily on the Lady Blazers, who committed a spate of errors which the Lady Maroons gamely exploited to preserve the win.

Meanwhile, La Salle-Zobel bested Adamson, 25-11, 25-12, 20-25, 25-15, while University of the East nipped Far Eastern University-Diliman, 25-23, 25-13, 20-25, 26-28, 15-6, in the UAAP Season 80 high school volleyball tournament.