St. Benilde halts JRU, moves closer to NCAA semis

MANILA, Philippines — College of St. Benilde turned back Jose Rizal University, 20-25, 25-17, 25-20, 25-22, yesterday to move one step away from claiming a Final Four spot in the women’s division of the 94th NCAA volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Klarisa Abriam led all hitters with 17, 16 off attacks while Jan Daguil chipped in 14 points including a crucial kill late in the decisive fourth set to help the Lady Blazers claim their seventh win against a defeat.

CSB could book a Final Four spot and join defending champion Arellano U by beating either San Sebastian on Friday or Mapua on Monday.

Rachel Austero and Kaila Miranda also played significant roles and contributed 12 and 10 points, respectively.

JRU, which pulled the rug from under SSC, 25-18, 25-20, 26-24, on Dec. 18 last year, gained the early upper hand when it took the opening set with Dolly Joy Versoza leading the attack.

But the Lady Blazers made the adjustments and turned things around, thanks to their solid court coverage.

The Lady Bombers slipped to their fourth defeat against the same number of wins and are now closer to elimination.

In the other women’s game, San Beda dumped San Sebastian, 25-20, 25-15, 25-18, to join Arellano U in the Final Four with a 7-1 card.

SSC fell to 4-3.

CSB also needed a four-setter to upend JRU, 25-14, 25-21, 23-25, 25-19, to jump into joint second with AU on 6-1 (win-loss) slates in the men’s class.

The Bombers sputtered to 2-6.