Perpetual Help eyes rare NC volleyball grand slam

MANILA, Philippines — Perpetual Help will try to accomplish what a few teams have done in the past as it seeks a rare triple kill in the finals of the 94th NCAA volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City today.

The Las Piñas-based school has sent its women’s, men’s and junior teams in the finals that put them in a position to win all three volleyball titles in a season.

The Perpetual Help spikers can join an elite company that has scored an NCAA volleyball grand slam – Ateneo de Manila, a former league member, and San Sebastian.

Ateneo won it all in 1976 while San Sebastian did the trick five times as it reigned supreme in 1984, 1994, 1995, 1997 and 2002.

Perpetual takes on defending champion Arellano University in the women’s division at 4 p.m., St. Benilde in the men’s side at 2 p.m. and Letran in the juniors’ section at 11:30 a.m.

The Lady Altas had the toughest time making it to the best-of-three finals as they needed to beat the top-seeded Lady Blazers twice including a marathon 25-17, 27-29, 19-25, 26-24, 16-14 win in a match when they overhauled a mammoth 11-22 deficit in the fourth set.

Perpetual Help could have a tougher time in the finals as the Lady Altas tackle a fancied AU side, which needed just a game to eliminate last year’s finalist San Beda to claim the first finals spot.

“The girls didn’t give up and played with a big heart,” said Perpetual Help coach Macky Carino, who is out to steer the school to its first title since snaring a three-peat feat five years ago.

“We will need to play bigger and tougher in the finals because we will be facing Arellano, which is not the defending champion for nothing,” he added.

The Altas and the Junior Altas, the defending champions in their respective class, in contrast, swept the elimination round to automatically book a berth in the finale where they are heavy favorites to win.