The De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) Lady Blazers defeated the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in a thrilling win, 3-2, today, Oct. 21, at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila.
The first set was a tight matchup between Benilde’s Gayle Pascual and FEU’s Mitzi Panangin who were going at it trying to bring their teams to win the first set of the game. As the Lady Blazers established a five point lead, a hard-hitting spike by Jade Gentapa ended the set in favor of the Taft squad, 25-19.
The second set went on with a similar theme—but this time at the hands of the Morayta squad as Chenie Tagaod shined for 11 points. As both teams were exchanging two-point leads, the Lady Tamaraws pulled away by their 20th point as the Lady Blazers struggled to keep up. Tagaod closed the set with a spike of her own, 21-25.
The third set saw a promising direction by the Lady Blazers as they dominated it all the way through. Equally good performances by Pascual, Gentapa, and Zamantha Nolasco helped the Taft squad move forward for an easy win as they ended the set with a 10-point lead, 25-15.
That optimism from the Benilde side, however, strayed as the Lady Blazers looked off-track in the fourth set with a more determined Lady Tamaraws trying not to lose. A Panangin point that brought the score to 4-6 started the momentum run for the Lady Tamaraws as coach Jerry Yee called a timeout. That lead slowly disappeared as Michelle Gamit dominated to give the Lady Blazers the lead, 17-16. From there on, both teams treated everyone to an intense seesaw-battle as they would bring the score to 24-24 for a deuce-off. Unfortunately for the Lady Blazers, Tagaod caught fire at the right time and a Faida Bakanke block helped FEU to force a fifth set, 24-26.
The fifth and deciding set of the match started with the Lady Blazers trying to mount their championship poise back as they held a healthy four-point advantage, 10-6, coming closer to grab the win. The Lady Tamaraws came storming back, scoring five unanswered points to put them up by one, 10-11. This momentum swing caused a passionate exchange from both teams as they continued trading points. Both teams would not let go of the game as they handed each other one-point leads and deadlocks. While Gerzel Petallo led the Lady Tamaraws up 16-17, three straight points from Pascual and Nolasco finally put the game to rest as the Lady Blazers won the final set with a thin margin, 19-17.
The Lady Blazers are set to face the Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons on Oct. 22, 2:00 p.m. at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. The match will be aired live through the Facebook page of Shakey’s Super League and will be televised live on Plus Network.
SET SCORES: 25-19, 21-25, 25-15, 24-26, 19-17
DLS-CSB (3) - Pascual 24, Nolasco 16, Gentapa 14, Gamit 9, Estoque 3, Apostol 3, Densig 2, Dorog 2, Mondoñedo 1, Catarig 1, Ondangan 1, Basarte 0, Estenzo 0, Getigan 0
FEU (2) - Tagaod 21, Petallo 16, Panangin 14, Devesora 7, Bedonia 6, Medina 6, Bakanke 5, Asis 4, Truz 3, Ubaldo 1, Juangco 0, Papa 0, Alberto 0, Encarnacion 0
