St. Benilde overpowered Emilio Aguinaldo with wins in the opening singles and doubles yesterday to clinch the first round pennant of the 92nd NCAA lawn tennis tournament at the Rizal Tennis Center.
Josh Relatores waylaid Paul Justine Lavanes, 6-1, 6-0, and Jet Asilo and Carl Catedral teamed up in blanking Jose Barcelon and Frexy Villamo, 6-0, 6-0, in the doubles to seal the match their first round title.
With victory already wrapped up, both St. Benilde and EAC decided not to play the reverse singles match between Ricarte Santos and Mikko Ogfimina.
San Beda, the defending champion, finished with an 8-1 (win-loss) record after it swept Letran, 3-0, on wins by Ormoc Dawson over Mina Zerach, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening singles, Aidyll Ignacio and Patrick Mendoza over Al Quiza and Jeffrey Burgos lost to , 5-7, 6-2, and Eduardo Bagaforo over Ken dela Cruz, 8-2.
The Red Netters, however, would have a chance to force a championship duel with the Blazers if the former could top the four-team second round that included Letran (6-2) and San Sebastian (6-3).
In juniors’ play, Arellano U stayed unbeaten with six wins.
