The Letran Knights banked on the huge effort of Brylle Novo and Michael Doria in fending off the Lyceum Pirates, 19-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-22, yesterday at the FilOil-Flying V Sports Center in San Juan.
This allowed the Knights to post their first win in the 95th National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) men’s volleyball tournament.
Novo and Doria had similar outputs of 17 points for the Knights, who improved to 1-4 in the men’s division standings.
The Knights needed an hour and 31 minutes to get past the Pirates, who fell to the cellar at 1-5.
They blew a big lead in the fourth set before the Knights took the match from attacks by Novo and Doria.
“Expected ko naman na mananalo sila ngayon dahil sa pinakita nilang effort sa last game namin sa Mapua,” Letran head coach Bryan Esquibel.
In the women’s action, the Lyceum Lady Pirates stayed in the hunt for a semifinals berth in their 28-26, 25-27, 25-16, 19-25, 16-14 triumph over the Letran Lady Knights.
The Lady Knights, behind Charlemagne Cunada, picked up their third triumph in five outings.
This put the Lady Pirates semis hopes in trouble with their 2-4 slate.
They now share fourth with the San Beda Red Lionesses.
In the junior side, the John Alabin had 15 points for the Letran Squires, who blasted the Lyceum Junior Pirates, 25-16, 25-21, 25-18, to improve at 3-1 in fourth.