V-League: Lady Altas beat Lady Stags to stay in semis hunt

MANILA, Philippines — Defending NCAA champion Perpetual Help stayed in semifinals contention after beating rival San Sebastian, 25-19, 25-27, 25-23, 25-22, Tuesday in the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 10 First Conference at the Arena in San Juan.

Its head coach Jason Sapin challenged the Lady Altas to play with pride and his team responded.

“Ilang sunod na kasi kaming natatalo. Sabi ko sa kanila, pride ‘to, pakita niyo pride natin lagi nating kalaban yan sa NCAA,” said Sapin.

Honey Royse Tubino and Sandra delos Santos powered Perpetual Help with 17 points each.

Sapin added that his team’s morale was down after losing a close second set. Perpetual Help though, regrouped in the ensuing set to climb back from 10 points down, 6-16, to take a 2-1 set lead led by Tubino.

Tubino was far from done as she provided two of her team’s final four points including the game-clinching point to hold off a late surge by San Sebastian, which recovered from a 5-11 deficit to tie it all up at 21 on back to back aces by Jonah Corpuz.

Veteran Thai import Jeng Bualee carried the also-ran Lady Stags, who dropped to 0-3, with 28 points, 27 of which were kills, to go along with 18 digs.