The ND Royals made their trip to upper Tumon a worthwhile one to face the St. John’s Knights in a IIAAG Boys Volleyball Quarterfinals match Friday evening after walking away victors of a five-setter 25-22, 12-25, 25-23, 19-25, 15-9. The Royals avenged their five-setter loss to the Knights in the one-round regular season last week.
ND will now move on to the semifinals where they will face the undefeated top seeded FD Friars tomorrow evening. The Friars had a first-round BYE after going 5-0 on the shortened season.
Back-and-forth!
The Royals took charge of the fifth set after trading the first few sets with the Knights. Down 3-1, ND got a kill from Nolan Sablan to ignite a small run before a kill from Isaac Limtiaco would give ND their first lead of the set 6-5. Limtiaco would add another big kill to give his team more momentum up 8-5 as part of a 6-0 run.
Sablan would keep the Royals ahead with a kill from the middle for a 12-7 lead. The Knights would start a short rally down 14-8, but Sablan would put the finishing touches on another kill up the middle for the final point of the evening to propel the Royals to the semifinals.
Semifinals set
The St. Paul Warriors defeated theGuam High Panthers in straight sets 25-22, 25-18, 25-17 and will face the Harvest Eagles in the semifinals tomorrow evening.
PHOTO GALLERY BROUGHT TO YOU BY:
ND Royal Nolan Sablan powers home a point in the opening set. (photo by Robert Balajadia)
Royal Shayd Suarez settles for a dink to get the ball over the Knights block. (photo by Robert Balajadia)
St. John’s Knight Albert Liu scores on a big hit in the 2nd set. (photo by Robert Balajadia)
Royals Libero Sergio Quenga digs a serve to set up the offense. (photo by Robert Balajadia)
The Knights try to calm themselves down in a hectic 3rd set. (photo by Robert Balajadia)