THE reigning secondary girls champion Southwestern University (SWU) formalized their entry to the final round with a 25-14, 25-20 victory over the University of San Jose Recoletos (USJ-R), punctuated by a booming kill from SWU skipper Mariane Calinawan yesterday at the Aznar Coliseum.
Meanwhile, the reigning women’s champion SWU also beat the USJ-R Lady Jaguars in four sets, 25-10,17-25,25-23,25-16.
Calinawan, 16, a graduating student, was overwhelmed that they were able to advance to the finals.
“It was a very crucial match because we only have two choices, either securing the number one position or the No. 3. I am so happy we won,” said Calinawan.
SWU took the lead in the team standing with seven points and was just one point ahead of the USC Baby Warriors with six points. USJ-R managed to earn a total of five points.
The Cesafi semifinal matches adopted the FIVB ruling, where the ranking was not
determined by the number of wins but through a point system.
SWU and USC will be advancing to the best-of-three series championship match set tomorrow at 6 p.m.
In the women’s division, it was SWU’s Therese Mae Ramas’ series of service aces that helped the team win against USJ-R.
Behind Ramas, SWU pummeled USJ-R early, building up a 13-1 lead. The streak was arrested by a strong attack from Tovya Galeon but USJ-R could no longer recover for SWU to take the set.
In the second set, USJ-R fought back behind the impressive attacks of Paula Maninang and Irene Sasil and took advantage of SWU’s several errors and won.
But the SWU Lady Cobras recovered and pummelled USJ-R in the two remaining sets behind Fretzie Aligway, Sheila Mae Bongo and Marlyn Llagoso.
SWU will be advancing to the final round this Saturday against the USC Lady Warriors.