NCAA champion College of St. Benilde turned back the University of Santo Tomas, 25-22, 23-25, 18-25, 25-23, 15-11, to force a rubber match in the Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Collegiate Pre-Season Championship quarterfinals on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.
Handicapped by a twice-to-win disadvantage as the third seed, the Lady Blazers flaunted their championship pedigree by erasing a 1-2 deficit with a squeaker in the fourth set before slamming the door on the Golden Tigresses in the clincher.
Wielyn Estoque hammered 18 points, including the back-to-back daggers, to finish what Gayle Pascual and Zamantha Nolasco, with 16 and 13 points, respectively, started in the thrilling come-from-behind win for the two-time reigning NCAA queens.
Game 2 is next Saturday at the same venue to arrange a showdown against the winner between Far Eastern and Ateneo, which were to play as of press time, in the semifinals of the SSL backed by Mikasa, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Summit Bottle Water, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, R and B Milk Tea, Potato Corner, Rebel Sports, Converge ICT Solutions, Genius Sports and United Auctioneers, Inc.
“Lagi naman nating pipiliting manalo. Iba ‘yung game natin noon. May pinanggalingan tayo or kung ano mang sitwasyon noon but this time, nakapag-rest tayo at nakapag-prepare,” said coach Jerry Yee.“We’re able to put up a fight kahit paano.”
Up against the second-ranked UST, St. Benilde was on the verge of elimination with a 1-2 deficit after surrendering an 18-25 loss in the third set only to storm back and forge a final set behind the troika of Estoque, Pascual and Nolasco.
The Lady Blazers, who did not make the quarterfinals in the inaugural season, proved a different squad from there on as Pascual and Nolasco took turns both on the offensive and defensive ends to break away from a 5-all deadlock that set the stage for Estoque’s finisher.
Following an error from Xyza Gula, Nolasco unloaded two quick attacks to push St. Benilde to 8-5 before Pascual swatted Angeline Poyos’ thunderous attack and then unleashed a searing hit of her own to make it a sudden 11-6 upperhand.
Poyos, the super rookie who reigned as Best Outside Hitter in the SSL National Invitationals, and Regina Jurado with a 5-2 flurry tried to will UST back but Estoque had enough aces up her sleeve.
And she dealt it down hard to tame the Golden Tigresses’ rally with a crosscourt hit before sneaking in a soft drop that just went over the defenders for the win.
Poyos fired 29 points, Jurado and Mary Banagua chipped in 16 and 12 points, respectively, while Gula and Mary Coronado had 10 each but UST still could not maximize its win-once bonus in the SSL in cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education and the Philippine Sports Commission.
All SSL Season 2 games are accessible across all platforms live and on-demand through the social media pages of Plus Network and SSL with Solar Sports, Blast TV and Aliw Channel 23 as TV partners.
