SSC trips La Salle-Bacolod, enters V-League quarters

MANILA, Philippines - San Sebastian flaunted its vaunted form and cruised past University of St. La Salle-Bacolod, 25-12, 25-14, 20-25, 25-17, to advance to the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 7 at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Thai Import Jeng Bualee rammed in 27 hits, including 24 kills, while Joy Benito and guest player Suzanne Roces added 15 and 13 points, respectively, for the Lady Stags, who bucked a third set loss with a solid game in the fourth.

“They let their guard down and became complacent that’s why they lost the third set,” said SSC coach Roger Gorayeb.

“But it’s a good sign that Benito is now slowly returning to her form,” he added, referring to Benito, who churned out her second straight double-digit output coming off sick bay at the start of the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and presented by PLDT MyDSL.

Southwestern U stayed in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth while sending Far Eastern U to the brink as it hacked out a 25-23, 25-22, 25-19 win in the second game.

Thai reinforcement Piyatada Lasungnern blasted 17 hits while Danalie Baquiro added 10 points for the Lady Cobras, who bounced back from back-to-back losses to San Sebastian and UST last week.

“We are slowly adjusting in the brand of play here. We are trying to address our problem in ballhandling and setting up of our plays,” said SWU coach Joerem Yu.

Cherry Vivas had 12 hits while Monique Tiangco added 11 points for FEU, which dropped to 0-3 and will face SSC in its last elims assignment tomorrow.

Bualee redeemed herself from a mediocre performance against SWU where she fired 11 points as she reasserted herself to spearhead the Lady Stags’ romp in 1:31.

It was the second straight win for SSC, which toppled Southwestern U in straight sets last week, as it matched defending champion University of Santo Tomas’ 2-0 start in the tournament organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel, Mikasa and Mighty Bond.

“I’m not thinking of UST right now because our target is the top 4 and then from there we will take it one game at time,” said Gorayeb. “Even if we beat them in our next game, we will accomplish nothing and it will only put more pressure on us.”