Lady Altas trounce Lady Stingers

THE PERPETUAL Help Lady Altas snatched the win away from the last Visayas representative University of St. La Salle Lady Stingers,  as they came back from four points down in the fourth set and then came through in the finale, 26-24, 19-25, 24-26, 28-26, 15-12, for a spot in the Final Four of the Shakey’s V-League at The Arena in San Juan.

The Lady Altas pounced on USLS’ service error to shatter the 12-all count in the decider then Shyrra Cabriana delivered a service ace before Thai import Pornpimol Kunbang unleashed a power-packed kill that pierced through the Lady Stingers’ defense to end the thrilling two-hour, eight-minute match.

The victory was the reigning NCAA champions’ fourth against one loss as they joined the Ateneo Lady Eagles and the UST Tigresses in the semis of the league’s season-opening conference.

Ateneo lorded it over the field with a 6-0 (win-loss) mark while UST, the former six-time champion making its return from a two-year hiatus, totes a 4-0 slate. San Sebastian is seeking to nail the last semis berth.

It was a costly setback for the Bacolod-based USLS squad, which had looked forward to a big win after taking a 2-1 set lead and surging to 8-4 in the fifth set.

After a court switch midway through the decider, Perpetual cashed in on USLS miscues and poor reception, rattling off seven straight points to wrest an 11-8 lead on a Cabriana drop shot. /Correspondent Jonas Panerio