University of Santo Tomas and Arellano University routed separate rivals on Sunday for their first wins in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.
The Tigresses ripped the Lyceum Lady Pirates, 25-18, 25-13, 25-21, while the Lady Chiefs clobbered the Technological Institute of the Philippines Lady Engineers, 25-12, 25-7, 25-13.
UST coach Kungfu Reyes leaned on a balanced attack, shuffling his lineup to give all his stalwarts playing time with Imee Hernandez and Janna Torres combining for 17 points.
Skipper KC Galdones and Joyce Abueg also merged for nine points while EJ Laure returned from a shoulder injury and scored two points in brief stints in the first and third sets.
“Para sa mga bata talaga itong liga namin. Nandoon naman yung potential pero ide-develop pa namin through sa liga na ito,” said Reyes.
The Tigresses needed 67 minutes in disposing of the Lady Pirates, unleashing nine aces to take advantage of the latter’s weak floor defense.
Lyceum struggled with its plays, giving up 34 points on errors.
Mary Joy Onofre and Zonki Dahab teamed up for 15 points for the Lady Pirates.
Meanwhile, reigning NCAA champion Arellano dumped TIP in 63 minutes with Necole Ebuen and Regine Arocha scoring 10 points each.
With its lackluster performance, TIP only managed 14 team attacks and one block, while failing to make a single ace out of 33 service attempts.
Khem Consencino was the best performing Lady Engineer with five measly points.
-KRISTEL SATUMBAGA
Games Saturday
(The Arena, San Juan City)
8 a.m. – Lyceum vs Arellano
10 a.m. – San Sebastian vs Ateneo
12 noon – Adamson vs Perpetual
