Junior Altas sweep way to finals; Arellano, SSC forge showdown

MANILA, Philippines – Perpetual Help swept its way to the juniors finals even as Arellano University and San Sebastian took different paths to arrange a women's title showdown in the 90th NCAA volleyball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City Monday.

The Junior Altas downed the Staglets, 25-18, 25-23, 24-26, 25-11, to barge into the best-of-three showdown for the high school crown against the Lyceum Junior Pirates, who won via defeault against the Emilio Aguinaldo Brigadiers to seal the last ticket to the finals bus.

"Now that we've accomplished our initial goal to make the finals, we're now focused on winning the title," said Perpetual coach Sandy Rieta, who is seeking to steer the Las Pinas-based school to its first title since winning a back-to-back three seasons ago.

San Sebastian, for its part, dumped a disheartened Perpetual side with a surprisingly easy 25-22, 25-20, 25-19, to book a spot in the women's finale against Arellano, which dropped a heartbreaking 16-25, 22-25, 25-12, 25-12, 12-15 decision to College of St. Benilde.

The Lady Stags and the Lady Chiefs actually ended in a three-way tie for the last two slots with the Lady Blazers but ended up arranging a series after emerging with the two highest tiebreak scores.

Malden Dildil continued his stellar play and led unloaded 19 hits, including 16 on attacks while Vincent Recamara, Jody Margaux Severo and Ryuji Conrad Etorma chipping in 17, 12 and 10, respectively.

Shakey's V-League veteran Gretchel Soltones, for her part, went on a spiking spree and unleashed a match-best 21 hits. She should be a marked player when they face the fancied Lady Chiefs.

"She will need to play multi-faceted for us to have a chance of winning," said San Sebastian coach Roger Gorayeb.

For St. Benilde, it was heartbreaking to come close to making the finals for the first time in a long while.

It laid to waste the Lady Blazers’ inspiring win over the Lady Chiefs, who were coming into Monday’s affair unbeaten in 11 matches, including a nine-match elimination round sweep, wherein the former rallied from 2-9 down in the fifth and final set to snatch the win.

In the end, San Sebastian stole the last berth from them following an emphatic win over Perpetual, which saw its three-year championship rein come to a painful end.

The league, meanwhile, will take a weeklong break due to the Papal visit and will resume with Game One at The Arena in San Juan on Jan. 21.

Game Two is scheduled on Jan. 23 while a deciding Game Three, if necessary, is on Jan. 26.