NCAA volleyball: Perpetual stops Letran, gets third seed

FILE – University of Perpetual Help Lady Altas. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

University of Perpetual Help seized control of the third seed after brushing off Colegio de San Juan de Letran, 19-25, 25-20, 25-23, 25-10, Friday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Lady Altas, who have one more game remaining in their schedule, improved to 6-2 but could end up tied with St. Benilde, and Joze Rizal U depending on the results of the remaining elimination games.

They need a victory over the Lady Blazers to stay ahead of the pack.

“But I’ll make sure that we will win our last game against Benilde,” said head coach Macky Cariño.

Cindy Imbo led four Lady Altas who finished in double figures with a game-high 18 points while skipper Maria Tripoli had 17 points.

Perpetual Help had to recover from a first set loss against the also-ran Lady Knights, which was a disappointing side for head coach Macky Cariño at this point in the tournament.

“Sometimes it happens when you really want to beat your opponent and you end up making mistakes,” said Cariño in Filipino. “They were so relaxed in the first set and that didn’t help us at all.”

“We shouldn’t have played like that, if we want to reach the top four we really have to play harder.”

Glayssa Torres and Marie Simborio had 12 points apiece to lead the Lady Knights, who remained at seventh with a 2-6 card.

Letran was at the constant mercy of Perpetual’s attack as the Lady Altas outscored the Lady Knights 48-34 in spikes and 19-6 in service aces.