BY ABBY TORALBA
A SWEET, sweet season sweep?
College of St. Benilde seeks to complete a perfect campaign when it faces defending three-time champion Arellano University anw today in Game 2 of their best-of-3 finals duel for the 97th NCAA women’s volleyball tournament crown at The Arena in San Juan.
The match is set at 2 p.m., with the Lady Blazers out to close out the race-to-2 series and bag their first title since 2016.
The Lady Chiefs will try to forge a deciding Game 3 on Sunday at the same venue.
“Work, work lang naman, tuloy-tuloy lang so hangga’t hindi natatapos wala pa rin naman so three sets pa, one game pa, hindi pa tapos and then, kumbaga pukpok pa rin tayo, practice, reminding them, coaching them,” said CSB coach Jerry Yee, who is eyeing his first diadem at the helm of the squad since 2018.
“Dapat go na tayo from the start. Gising na tayo kaagad and then the ways — their scoring on us, dapat ma-address na natin kaagad iyan. So, iyon nga iyong plano, gawing one-sided kasi ayaw na natin silang bigyan ng momentum. Ayaw na natin silang bigyan ng kumpiyansa. Iyon talaga ang job ni coach,” he added.
CSB whipped Arellano 25-21, 25-11, 25-11 in Game 1 two days ago.
The Lady Blazers will bank on team captain Mycah Go, opposite hitter Gayle Pascual, middle blocker Michelle Gamit, open spiker Jade Gentapa, setter Cloanne Mondonedo and libero Angelika Mondejar.
“Actually, pagdating kasi ng finals, mental game talaga ito. Ang problema, wala kami noon, kulang na kulang kami. Iyon ang unang problema namin. Kung makaka-recover kami sa ganoong klase, baka sakaling gumanda pa iyong performance namin,” Lady Chiefs strategist Obet Javier said.
“Katulad noong ginawa namin last time, noong last practice namin, iyong receive (kailangan i-work on). Actually, two days kaming nag-practice sa receive and maganda naman sana kaso, sabi ko nga, kahit anong galing mo, kapag sinamahan mo ng takot at kaba, mawawala at mawawala.”
Arellano will count on graduating spikers Carla Donato and Princess Bello, hitters Charmina Dino and Pauline De Guzman, opposite spiker Nicole Sasuman, playmaker KC Adante and middle blocker Trina Abay.
