LA Salle recovered from a sloppy second set performance and
won the next two, beating St. Benilde 25-18, 21-25, 25-10, 25-17 to clinch the
first semis berth in the Shakey’s V-League second conference at The Arena in San
Juan City yesterday.
Held to a five-point game the last time out, Stephanie
Mercado unloaded 17 hits while Jacqueline Alarca added 16 points for La Salle,
which advanced to the next round ahead of everybody else with a 5-2 (win-loss)
card.
La Salle, seeking a fourth crown in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza,
actually came off back-to-back setbacks to UST and Adamson after sweeping its
first four games, with the Lady Archers hoping to regain the moment with
yesterday’s victory in time for the crucial phase.
"We are really struggling, especially on our set plays but
we’re glad it’s over," said La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus, visibly relieved
after formalizing their stint in the semis. "Our big start (of four wins) was
indeed a big factor in our semis bid."
Earlier, San Sebastian College put up a tough defensive job
on Far Eastern U’s top hitters as the Lady Stags strolled to a 25-20, 25-18,
25-17 over the Lady Tams yesterday for solo third with a 3-1 mark.
The loss dropped FEU to 2-3 for a share of fifth with comebacking Lyceum, behind
the fourth-running University of Santo Tomas (2-1).
The San Sebastian-FEU game will be telecast on NBN-4 starting at 2 p.m. today
with replays on both Viva Prime Channel on Destiny Cable and Makisig Channel on
Sky Cable. The La Salle-St. Benilde match will be telecast tomorrow.
While La Salle advanced, sister-school St. Benilde bowed out of the semis race
with its fifth straight setback in the league organized by Sports Vision.
