TWO-TIME reigning NCAA champion College of St. Benilde battled back from an opening-set loss to roll back Letran, 20-25, 25-14, 25-18, 25-22, in the Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Collegiate Pre-Season Championship Season 2 at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

Four players, led by former NCAA Finals MVP Gayle Pascual, tallied double-digit scores as Lady Blazers labored for almost two hours and needed a come-from-behind effort in the fourth set to frustrate the Lady Knights in Pool C.

Pascual finished with 14 points on 12 attacks, highlighted by a soft drop in the clincher, to jumpstart St Benilde’s campaign in the 16-team tournament supported by Mikasa, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Summit Bottle Water, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, R and B Milk Tea, Potato Corner, Rebel Sports, Converge ICT Solutions and Genius Sports.

Jade Gentapa, also a former Finals MVP, and Michelle Gamit added 13 points apiece while Zamantha Nolasco contributed 11 points on four blocks for the Lady Blazers.

Impressive as it was, St. Benilde head coach Jerry Yee was far from satisfied in the Lady Blazers’ efforts a month after an early quarterfinal exit in the Shakey’s National Invitationals against another fellow NCAA stalwart University of Perpetual Help System Dalta.

“Pangit ‘yung laro namin. Either pagod kami, underestimated ‘yung kalaban or masyado kaming eager. So, pangit ‘yung laro namin. Let’s see sa second and third game,” said Yee.

Up against a Letran side eager to give new coach Oliver Almadro a victory, st. Benilde came up short in the first set, 20-25.

But the Lady Altas slowly but surely worked their back to sweep the.next two frames, 25-14, and Set 3, 25-18.

The Lady knights, however, were not finished yet, even taking an 18-14 lead late in the fourth set following Gia Marcel Maquilang’s hit off the block.

Still, the Lady Blazers regrouped in time, cutting the gap to 21-22 before Pascual took over in anchoring a 4-0 finishing kick for the team’s first win.

Letran, which also bowed to University of Santo Tomas with a 21-25, 23-25, 14-25 loss, stayed winless in two matches in Pool C despite the 25 points of Maquilang.

CSB (1-0) collides with group leader UST (2-0) in a bid to stay unblemished on Monday as Letran (0-2) tries to stay in contention against Perpetual (0-1) on the same day.

All games will be accessible across all platforms live and on-demand through the social media pages of Plus Network and SSL with Solar Sports, Blast TV and Aliw Channel 23 as TV partners.