Perpetual, Arellano move a win away from NCAA volleyball titles

MANILA, Philippines – Perpetual Help and Arellano University pulled off contrasting victories to move on the verge of winning the title in their respective divisions in the 90th NCAA volleyball tournament at The Arena in San Juan City Wednesday.

Drawing inspiration from their three-game semifinal sweep, the Junior Altas bashed the Lyceum Junior Pirates, 25-19, 25-19, 25-11, to move on the crest of reclaiming the title they last won four years ago.

The Lady Chiefs, for their part, fended off a late challenge by the San Sebastian Lady Stags to carve out a 25-18, 25-15, 20-25, 25-19 win to inch closer to clinching the former their first ever women's title since joining the league five seasons back.

"Our goal is to give the school its first title and hopefully we could accomplish it on Friday," said Arellano coach Obet Javier.

Malden Dildil fired 14 hits while Vincent Recamara and Ricky Marcos contributed 11 and 10, respectively, to lead the way for the Junior Altas, who are also seeking a seventh title overall that will install it as the second most titled school in NCAA high school volleyball next to San Sebastian with 15.

Perpetual Help is also trying to win it for its men's and women's teams, which failed to defend their crowns after getting eliminated from the finals.

"Hopefully we could win one this year," said Perpetual mentor Sandy Rieta.

Rieta also said they gained confidence from their strong showing in the semis.

"We actually started out slow but we made up for it by playing strong in the semis. Now the team is playing inspired because of it," said Rieta.

Danna Henson, for her part, exploded with 18, including 15 on kills, while CJ Rosario, Menchie Tubiera and Rialen Sante added 15, 13 and 11, to help their team overcame the 20-hit performance of San Sebastian's Gretchel Soltones.

The wins gave both Perpetual and Arellano a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three series.

The two will try to bring out a broom in Game Two Friday.

A decider, if necessary, is on Monday.