In a rare battle of sister schools, the De La Salle – Taft Green Spikers played unfriendly hosts to their brothers from the south, De La Salle – Dasamariñas Patriots. The Manileños swept the Caviteños 25-17, 25-18, 25-22 in the Spikers’ Turf Collegiate Conference presented by PLDT Home Ultera at the FilOil Flying V Arena.
Receiving outstanding performances from their starters, the boys from Taft easily blew past their foes with their attacking, while also being stingy with their errors. The Green Spikers tallied 45 attack kills to the Patriots’ 31 while limiting their errors to just 18 when the Patriots surrendered 22.
The Green Spikers controlled the pace of the match from the onset with focused ball control and a dynamic offensive flow. As a result of their fluidity, La Salle pulled double-digit performances from four of their players. Returning spikers, Arjay Onia and Cris Dumago each managed 12 markers while Rafael Del Pilar and Raymark Woo both fired off 11 markers apiece.
After the match, Green Spikers head coach, Ronald Dulay expressed his delight with his team’s continuing progress in the tournament. “I’m very happy with how the team played this game and the past games as well. Ineensayo talaga namin ‘yung blocking saka ‘yung iba naming play. So far, hindi pa namin naeexecute lahat during games pero maganda naman ‘yung pinapakita nila sa games pati ensayo.”
Dulay was also delighted by the fast progress of his retuning open hitter, Raymark Woo, who tore his ACL right before UAAP Season 77 and kept him out for the rest of the year. “Every game gumaganda lalo ‘yung galaw niya. ‘Di na rin ako nagulat kasi noong nainjure naman siya, pinapractice na namin siya kahit di pa siya cleared. May mga drills na kami na pinapagawa para maramdaman na niya ‘yung galawan sa court. Hindi namin siya bineybi.”
For the Patriots, only Eddimar Kasim had success in penetrating the stingy Taft defense. The burly open hitter turned in a game-high 13 points coming off 12 attacks and an ace.
Sporting identical 2-1 records in Group B with UP and CSB, the Green Spikers have a chance to pull ahead when they face the Benilde Blazers on August 3, Monday. Still winless in three matches, the Patriots will look to earn their victory against the UP Maroons on August 5, Wednesday.
The Scores
DLSU (3) – Onia 12, Dumago 12, Del Pilar 11, Woo 11, Calasin 5, Asia 2, Frey 0, Maravilla 0, Movido (L)
DLSU-D (0) – Kasim E. 13, Sapida 8, Castro 6, Adam 6, Cacayuran 2, Mirano 2, Kasim I. 1, Bin 1, Pomada (L), Marquez (L)
