ROYALS FIGHT OFF KNIGHTS IN THRILLING FIVE SETTER

By Carmen Gogue

The Notre Dame Royals traveled up to the upper Tumon school and dished out pay back after going full throttle in the fifth set against the St. John’s Knights to win 15-5. After suffering an early season loss to the Knights, the Royals bounced back avenging themselves in the five set battle 25-16, 25-22, 19-25, 38-40, 15-5.

Masato Rabago, a prime accolade of the Royals recorded 20 star striking kills coming from both the front and back row to lead his team.

Opposite hitter Daryl Peredo and middle blockers Timothy Gumataotao and James Soriano provided the Royals full canon coverage at the net. Peredo and Gumataotao each recorded 10 huge kills with Soriano registering a towering eight over the Knights.

Knathan Davis led the Knights with nine kills and two blocks. Teammates Jerrick Palomares, Eric Kwon and Harry Vitale recorded five kills each. Vitale was strong on defense with six blocks.

Game Sequence

ND setters Takoda Piper and Josiah Duenas found Rabago, Caleb Pereda, and Timothy Gumataotao to take the first set 25-16 and kickstart their momentum.

In the second set, the Knights began finding their footing with big kills from Davis and an improved defensive stance but Rabago, Peredo, and Soriano dominated at the net for a 25-22 win.

Rolling with better offense, the Knights fired up for the third set with Davis, Kwon and Palomares tallying up kills forcing errors on the Royals side. The Knights steam rolled to a 25-19 set win showing the Royals they won’t go down without a fight.

Both teams were determined to take the fourth set with Rabago and Davis at the forefront for each of their squads. Going back and forth until the Knights had the set point at 24-23, Rabago and Soriano shot up for a massive block to go into deuce.

From there, fans on both sides cheered as their teams fought for each point and continued to share scoring opportunities. Exchanging between heated jousts and roaring crowds, the score reached 38-38 with St. John’s serving. Kwon flew in for a powerful kill giving his team set point 39-38 and with a Royals hitting error on the next rally allowed another Knights set win to wild up their home crowd.

One thing about the Royals, is they don’t back down especially having a roster of seasoned hitters. The front court triple threat of Rabago, Peredo, and Soriano and duo of playmakers Piper and Duenas ignited the spark for a 15-5 victory and revenge against the Knights.

ND head coach Mike Rabago shared his thoughts on the five set game and the next matchup for the Royals, “I think the biggest factor today, was battle of the fittest. You know these boys have been training since October so hopefully we’ll see what happens on Friday against another good team”.

The Royals will travel again to play the Harvest Eagles in Maite on Friday evening. The Knights will stay at home to face the St. Paul Warriors.

Current IIAAG Standings
FD 8-1
ND 7-2
HCA 6-3
SJS 4-5
SPC 2-7
GHS 0-9

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