Cover Photo By Reina Cruz
Cover Photo By Reina Cruz.

Lady Blazers finish 3rd in V-League after sweeping Lady Fighting Maroons


The #LadyBlazers grabbed third place at the 2022 V-League Collegiate Challenge after defeating the UP Lady Fighting Maroons in three sets.


By Driks Valencia | Monday, 28 November 2022

The De La Salle-College of Saint Benilde (DLS-CSB) Lady Blazers ended their V-League campaign at 3rd place after winning against the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Fighting Maroons, 3-0, on Nov. 27 at the Paco Arena Events and Sports Center.

 

The Lady Blazers' opener was led by Jade Gentapa with consecutive attacks, followed by Gayle Pascual’s back-to-back aces, 4-5. Mycah Go was able to steal the Lady Fighting Maroons' early lead before entering the first technical timeout, 8-7. The Lady Blazers were able to extend the lead to 4, 15-11, coming off Zamantha Nolasco’s services. However, unforced errors were a hot take for the Blazers as the lead was cut to one,  17-16. Benilde’s lead was triggered by a Gentapa attack to extend the lead to four, 22-18. Pascual finished the opening set for the Lady Blazers with consecutive spike attacks, 25-20.  

 

The second set started with green and white domination. Errors from the Katipunan squad gave points to the Lady Blazers, 5-0. But things turned around quickly when the Taft-based squad committed several errors to surrender the lead, 5-6. Gentapa made sure to cap things off with an easy attack to get the lead, 8-7, upon entering the first technical timeout.  The Lady Blazers can't get the post-timeout momentum with UP Lady Fighting Maroons' Dannica Celis garnering points off the errors for UP. Cloanne Mondoñedo escalated things for the Blazers with a signature fast drop to extend the lead, 16-12, and trigger the second technical timeout. The set was manipulated by the Blazers after gaining points off the Lady Maroons' errors, 20-14. Corinne Apostol made her presence quickly felt off-the-bench after a statement spike to extend the lead, 23-15. Mondoñedo shined bright in the second set as she topped it with a closing attack, 25-17.

 

The third set was opened by Pascual's floater. Gentapa followed the scoring tally with consecutive finishes, 5-1. Apostol triggered the first technical break with back-to-back service aces, 8-1. UP’s Stephanie Bustrillo halted the Blazers' scoring spree after scoring off the block. The trio of Pascual, Gentapa, and Mich Gamit converted a comfortable lead for the Blazers, 13-3, as they triggered coach Shaq Delos Santos of UP to call a timeout. Gentapa extended the wide gap of the second technical timeout with consecutive spikes, 18-8. Go headlined the stats sheet in closing the third set after reaching the set point, 24-15. The ladies in green and white made sure to dominate and close things off in three sets as they swept the Lady Maroons with a Gentapa attack, 25-16. 

 

Gentapa led the Lady Blazers with 17 points on 14 attacks, 2 blocks, and 2 service aces. Pascual also made big marks on the stats sheets with 14 points.

 

Box Scores:

 

DLS-CSB (3): Gentapa 17, Pascual 14, Go 10, Mondoñedo 6, Gamit 5, Apostol 3, Basarte 0, Estenso 0, Getigan 0, Mondejar 0, Avila 0, Estoque 0, Catarig 0, Nolasco 0

 

UP (0): Bustrillo 10, Celis 6, Jaboneta 5, Ytang 5, Encarnacion 3, Sotomil 2, Cabasac 1, Capistrano 1, Goc 1, Bonafe 0, Ojeda 0, Gayo 0

 

Set scores:  25-20 , 25-17 , 25-16