San Sebastian made quick work of Emilio Aguinaldo College 25-11, 25-13, 25-16 and gave comebacking multi-titled coach Roger Gorayeb positive vibes in the NCAA Season 97 women’s volleyball tournaments yesterday at the Paco Arena.
The Lady Stags flaunted their depth as Kat Santos set the tone with precise sniping from the service area in the opening set before the likes of Kristine Dionisio, Reyann Canete, and Christina Marasigan followed suit to complete the statement sweep of the Lady Generals.
Alexia Sison anchored the offensive onslaught for San Sebastian with 19 excellent sets while Santos unloaded 14 points built on 10 attacks and four aces. Dionisio and Canete added eight points apiece – majority of those coming from kills.
“Masaya. It’s been a while since I step on the competition court, last year pang tumigil na ako eh. Masaya ako kasi maganda itong grupo ng mga batang kasama ko ngayon,” said Gorayeb who returned to the San Sebastian sidelines after a couple of years since he stepped away from the volleyball scene while recovering from multiple myeloma, a type of cancer in the blood.
The veteran mentor, who was declared cancer-free last year, was also glad to see his wards perform well despite the limited preparation time.
“Masayang masaya ako kasi despite the fact na meron tatlong bago dun sa loob eh maganda yung performance nila and add to that we were only given one month to practice. We’ve been practicing since May 2 lang kaya natutuwa ako,” he added.
The Lady Stags after opening the game with consecutive errors, finally shook off the cobwebs as Santos spearheaded the attack to create a comfortable 10-6 advantage which it never relinquished to take the opening set.
Kamille Tan, Marasigan and Carreon followed suit in the second set as the San Sebastian continued punishing EAC’s net defense with their relentless attacks.
The third set saw the Lady Generals pump some life to its comeback hopes as Jamaica Villena and Lyka Perez who top scored for EAC with four points apiece stringed some points together to keep in step with the Lady Stags.
The momentum however was quickly halted as Sison fed Dionisio and Carreon anew to put the game away.
