Lyceum of the Philippines University bucked a first set hiccup to turn back Emilio Aguinaldo College, 16-25, 25-18, 25-19, 25-12, and remain spotless in the NCAA Season 99 women's volleyball tournament on Wednesday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre.
The Lady Pirates figured in an error-plagued opening frame, but found their rhythm in the next three sets to improve to 5-0 and tie Benilde at the top of the ladder.
The Lady Generals, on the other hand, are still on a hunt for an elusive first victory as they fell to 0-5.
After an uncharacteristic first set loss, the Lady Pirates retaliated in the next two sets and led by as much as eight points in both chapters to take a commanding 2-1 lead.
EAC never recovered from that deficit and even allowed the streaking Lady Pirates to mount a 14-7 cushion behind the unstoppable trio of Joan Doguna, Jaja Tulang, and recently-named Player of the Week Johna Dolorito.
The Season 98 finalists even stretched that gap to 11 when Tulang instigated a 6-2 rampage as EAC committed a slew of errors in the endgame, 20-9.
Freddie Lyn Orendain went wide on her cross court attack, giving LPU 12 match points at 24-12 while rookie middle blocker Hiromi Osada caught the line just enough on her running kill to close it out.
Doguna led the way with 14 points and nine digs while Tulang churned out 13 markers anchored on eight attacks and five aces. Dolorito and Osada both tallied 10 markers with the former also grabbing 10 digs and 11 receptions.
Cath Almazan paced EAC with a team-high 15 points on top of 10 digs and two receptions.
—Bea Micaller/JKC, GMA Integrated News
