Lady Altas chase NCAA crown with intact roster

University of Perpetual Help System Dalta is set to parade an intact roster when it competes in Season 101 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) women’s volleyball tournament starting Friday at the San Andres Gym in Manila.

Lady Altas head coach Sandy Rieta said the core of her squad will be back as they try to regain the title that they lost last year to College of Saint Benilde.

The squad that will be powered by mainstays Charisse Enrico, Geraldine Palacio, Cyrille Almeniana, Jemalyn Menor, Shaila Omipon, Pauline Reyes, setter Fianne Ariola and libero Joanna Denis Lozano along with Camille Bustamante, Loraine Lagmay and twins Nicollete and Nicole Gaa had trained non-stop in the off-season in preparation for its quest for NCAA crown.

But the Lady Altas, who finished the previous season at fifth place with a 9-9 win-loss record, will be playing without veterans Winnie Bedaña and Marian Andal, who have already played out their college eligibility.

With that, Rieta will parade his 18-year-old rookie from Pampanga in Liz Villanueva as well as Chelsea Atlas, Desiree Gecobe and Virginia Rosales in a bid to win the crown they last won in Season 89 in 2014.

Rieta said their target is to get as many wins as they can in this event that is using a format similar to men’s basketball, where teams were divided into two groups.

Perpetual is in Group A together with College of Saint Benilde, Mapua University, San Sebastian College and Jose Rizal University while powerhouse Letran College, Arellano University, Lyceum of the Philippines University, San Beda University and Emilio Aguinaldo College are in Group B.

Inaugurated during the men’s and juniors’ basketball tournaments, the new format veers away from the long-standing tradition of a round robin template.

Now, each team will face their groupmates twice and those from the other group once with the top three from each group advancing to the crossover quarterfinals. The fourth and fifth rank squads, on the other hand, will contend for the last spot in the play-in round.

The first and second seeds will hold a twice-to-beat advantage in the quarterfinals while both the semifinals and the finals will be a best-of-three series.

The Lady Blazers and the Lady Cardinals will open the season with at 12 p.m. followed by the Lady Knights facing the Lady Chiefs at 2:30 p.m.