SAN Sebastian College took the closely fought first set to take the fight out of Lyceum of the Philippines University and hammered out a 25-23, 25-6, 25-14 victory yesterday as the Lady Stags closed in on a Final Four seat in the 93rd NCAA women’s volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.
Nikka Dalisay unloaded a match-best 16 points she laced with four service aces, while team captain Joyce Sta. Rita and Dangie Encarnacion chipped in 10 apiece to propel the Lady Stags to their fourth win in row and fifth overall in seven outings.
The Lady Pirates showed some fight in the opening set, but couldn’t hold on to it and was never the same the rest of the way after the Lady Stags snatched the set.
LPU fell to 1-6.
Dalisay starred for SSC as she filled the vacuum left by the struggling Sta. Rita, who came into the game averaging a sizzling 22 points in their last two outings but came up with a dud of a performance on this one.
“We’re only few but the players I have are mostly veterans and I will not be surprised if we have different top scorers in every game,” said SSC coach Roger Gorayeb.
While the win secured SSC solo third spot, Gorayeb remained wary of their Final Four chances as his team will face San Beda College, currently No. 2 with a 6-1 record, on Tuesday and defending champion Arellano University, the league-leader with a pristine 7-0 card, on Thursday.
Two defeats would allow two among Perpetual Help (4-2), Jose Rizal (3-3) and College of St. Benilde (3-3) to snatch the last berths in the next round.
“It’s going to be tough, but we just have to prepare hard for them,” said Gorayeb.