BY ABBY TORALBA
ARELLANO University banked on an assist from San Beda University and its emphatic 25-16, 25-16, 25-16 victory yesterday over also-ran Jose Rizal U to beat Mapua for the fourth and last slot to the 99th NCAA women’s volleyball tournament stepladder semifinals at The Arena in San Juan.
The Lady Chiefs and the Lady Cardinals ended with 6-3 marks but the former had the higher tiebreaker, thanks to the three-set win and the one set the latter dropped to the Lady Red Spikers in a 25-21, 26-24, 22-25, 25-13 triumph earlier.
If Mapua had held on to a straight-set result, it would have claimed the last semis slot.
“Na-realize nila kailangan naming manalo ng straight sets para makapasok sa apat; masaya ako nga respond sila,” Arellano coach Obet Javier.
The Lady Chiefs, the former four-time champions, completed their semis return after failing to make it that far in the last volley wars.
