Lady Vikings attack, send Junior Tigresses packing

Kings’ Montessori School eliminated University of Santo Tomas (UST), 21-25, 25-19, 25-21, to book a quarterfinal ticket in the 2024 Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Invitational League Tuesday at the Paco Arena.

The Lady Vikings recovered from an opening set meltdown for their second win in three games to join undefeated Pool C top seed Bacolod Tay Tung into the knockout round.

Shahanna Lleses scattered all her 14 points from attacks while Shekaina Lleses added 11 markers for Kings’ Montessori.

The Lady Vikings face Pool A No. 1 seed Bethel Academy in the quarterfinal round.

“We highly respect UST, because that’s UST. Our players, even though they train very well, once they hear about UAAP schools, they become scared. So that’s what we removed from them,” Kings Montessori head coach Onyok Getigan said.

“I’m happy that we got (the win) even if it was a close match. It’s still a win.”

The Lady Vikings had some scary moments in the third set when the Junior Tigresses trimmed a seven-point deficit to just two, 23-21.

Setter Ariana Jumawan stopped the bleeding after winning the joust against Stephanie Arasan to push Kings’ Montessori at match point before Justine Decena sealed the win with an ace.

“I just told them to not waste it, because grabbing the opportunity is possible as long as they work hard for it since we slowly had errors at the end (of the game),” Getigan added. “I just said, if we won against UST, we’ll have room to breathe.”

UST absorbed its second loss in three outings despite Margaret Altea’s 12-point production. Arasan, Ryzel Laag and Abigail Sinson added seven markers each in a losing effort.

Meanwhile, Lyceum of the Philippines University defeated Chiang Kai-shek College, 25-16, 25-13, in Pool A.

Philip Gancia finished with 10 points to pace the Junior Lady Pirates, who tied Bethel Academy with identical 3-1 slates but the Bethelites took the top seed with more match points earned, 10-8.

Lyceum can secure the last quarters seat in Pool A for the right to take on Bacolod Tay Tung if De La Salle-Lipa loses to dethroned California Academy in their being played as of press time.

Chiang Kai-shek ended its run with a 1-3 win-loss slate.

In Pool B, Samantha Maranan showed the way as Arellano University outlasted De La Salle-Zobel, 25-21, 17-25, 25-20, for a seat in the next round.

Maranan scored 10 of her game-high 19 points in the deciding set as the Lady Braves joined Far Eastern University in the quarters. Catherine Chu added 14.