CEBU, Philippines - The Southwestern University (SWU) Lady Cobras face rough-sailing in their quest to break into the semifinals after they fell prey to the University of St. La Salle (USLS)-Bacolod Lady Altas in a five-set thriller during the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
The USLS belles of coach Roger Branzuela swept the first two sets in convincing fashion, 25-15, 25-14, behind the efforts of Patty Orendain, the league’s leading scorer, Charmaine Moralde, Floradele Dolar, Royce Quijano, April Hingpit and American reinforcement Jayde Hair.
However, the Lady Cobras of coach Jordan Paca showed great recuperative powers as they took the third set, 25-23, courtesy of the powerful attacks of Princess Anne Pido, Danika Gendrauli, Danalie Baquiro, Raphril Aguilar and reinforcement in Erika Camille Verano from the University of Southern Philippines Foundation (USPF) and Kennette Garces, a former USJ-R standout.
Again, the SWU belles flashed great fighting spirit to thrash USLS in the fourth set, 25-12, thus, the rubbermatch.
In the deciding set, both squads tightened their defense in the early goings but it was USLS which took control of the game and made it all the way to a 15-9 victory over the back-to-back Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. (CESAFI) women’s champion.
Despite the stinging setback, SWU still has a chance to make it to the semis if it beats National University. (FREEMAN)