COLLEGE of Saint Benilde (CSB) gained enough momentum going to the finals of National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Season 91 women’s volleyball tournament.
Despite the tall order of the stepladder format, Lady Blazers Head Coach Macky Carino, who has been with the team for three years, said the Lady Blazers are really motivated to return in the big stage, ending their six-season finals drought.
“My only motivation for them is to seek payback because these are the teams who beat us during the eliminations and, at the same time, is to bring back CSB in the finals,” Carino said after dethroning Arellano University (AU) in straight sets 25-20, 25-22, 25-23,on Friday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
The win put the Taft-based team in the finals against San Sebastian College, which holds a thrice-to-beat advantage for sweeping the elimination round.
Capitalizing from its fiery first two sets, CSB was close to end the match in straight sets with a 21-16 spread. However, the defending champion Lady Chiefs mounted a come back in the third set as they shackled the Lady Blazers through their defense to score the six of the next seven points to equalize the match at 22-apiece.
But luckily for the Lady Blazers, Arellano committed back-to-back errors to give CSB the match point, 24-22.
Lady Blazer Ranya Musa had a chance to seal the win but her service went wide which, allowing the Lady Chiefs to shoot for a deuce, 23-24. Jeanette Panaga emerged as CSB’s hero as she nailed the match-winning drop over two Arellano blockers.
“That was really my play for them,” Carino shared. “AU’s defense already checked our rotation. They put two blokers on Jeanette so I adjusted her in the middle slightly separated from the blockers and it worked.”
“She is my key factor. She had an up and down performances during the eliminations so I told her to just focus in the semifinals,” he added.
Panaga rose to the occassion with 21 points on nine attacks, six aces and six blocks.
As the Lady Blazers made it to the finals after a tough stepladder journey, they are now set to face the biggest challenge of their lives as they tangle with undefeated San Sebastian College, which has a thrice-to-beat advantage while, the Lady Stags only need to win twice to seal the title.
However, Carino, who is now on his first-ever finals stint as CSB’s mentor, is not afraid of the daunting challenge, as he believes that his players have gained enough self-esteem and preparation from their rousing semis victories as the Season 91 title showdown begins on Tuesday.