The veteran-rookie connection of Cha Cuñada and Judiel Nitura proved to be too much as Colegio de San Juan de Letran overcame a first set hiccup to hack out a 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 29-27 victory against San Sebastian College-Recoletos in the NCAA Season 98 women's volleyball tournament on Friday.
Letran has now won two consecutive games to improve to 3-1 while San Sebastian, a part of the Final Four last season, fell to a 0-4 hole.
The Lady Knights found themselves down early in the fourth set with the Lady Stags establishing a crucial 15-8 lead. But the Intramuros crew worked hard on every single possession with Nitura tying things up at 21-all to swing the momentum back to their side.
Cuñada, who alongside Lara Mae Silva ruled the recent beach volleyball tourney, gave Letran the lead at 22-21, but San Sebastian raced to the set point after an attack error from Letran's Jade Isar, 23-24.
The Lady Stags had two chances to bring the game into the fifth set but Letran held on to force two ties. Down 27-26, Letran then unleashed a 3-0 closing run capped off by a Nitura kill as the Lady Knights completed the come-from-behind triumph.
Nitura led Letran with 17 points highlighted by three service aces while Cuñada finished with 16 markers laced with 15 excellent receptions. Lea Tapang and Daisy Melendres chipped in 15 and 13 points apiece with the former adding in eight digs to her name.
Tina Marasigan paced San Sebastian with 18 points while KJ Dionisio and Kath Santos poured in 16 and 14 markers, respectively, in the losing effort.
Letran next squares off with Jose Rizal University on Wednesday while San Sebastian takes on University of Perpetual Help System DALTA on Sunday.
—JMB, GMA Integrated News
