The Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights men's volleyball team fell short against the Arellano University Chiefs in the opening match of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament Finals, held today, June 8, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre. Photo Courtesy: Ram Christian Campos.
The Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights men’s volleyball team falters against the Arellano University Chiefs, 1-3, 25-27, 14-25, 25-22, 22-25, in the first game of the NCAA Volleyball Tournament Finals held today, June 8, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
Letran’s heroes Vince Himzon and Bembem Bautista dropped 18 and 16 points in their attempt to hand Arellano its first matchup loss of the season.
The Chiefs advanced to match point courtesy of Jiwen Sinuto’s cross-court hit followed by an attack point in the middle to close out the game.
Arellano’s master playmaker starts off the opening set with a pair of service aces to stall the Knights’ start. But the the two-time best spiker from Muralla, Himzon,
The Knights erased a four-point lead by the Chiefs but eventually lost the joust to Anfernee Curamen’s kill spike, 25-27.
Letran bucked a slow start in the second frame, with the likes of Sinuto and Carl Berdal adding to their woes, stacking the lead to double digits.
Swords started to hit in the third set when Himzon strikes point blank in the middle. Lorenz Vicente then singlehandedly rejected Arellano’s open side hit to gain a five-point cushion, 6-1.
Andrew Abeto and Himzon injected life to earn Letran a set after scoring two consecutive attack points, 25-21.
A nip-and-tuck affair ensued at the fourth, seeing multiple lead swaps until a crucial interference by Bautista surrendered Letran’s lead to the opponents.
The well-rounded offense of Arellano spearheaded by Villados’ 18 excellent sets allowed Carl Berdal to execute 17 attack points. Sinuto and Curamen followed suit, earning 13 points apiece.
The Knights are still searching for a win against the Chiefs and are set to regroup for a Game 2 clash on June 11, Wednesday, at the same venue.