Needing a win to return to the Final Four, the UST Tigresses overwhelmed the UE Lady Warriors in three sets, 25-10, 25-22, 25-11, at the San Juan Arena.
With a renewed sense of urgency, the Lady Tigresses came out guns ablaze even while experimenting with their lineup. Coach Mamon admitted that they tried to assign some of their players to different roles to create more options in case some of their main gunners go cold in the following crucial games. UST fielded all of their players for the match- even using three open spikers at the same time in the second set, the closest in the match, with UE even taking a short-lived one-point lead, 19-18.
Thomasian rookie EJ Laure led all scorers with 11 points, all off spikes while team captain Pam Lastimosa drilled in 10 markers. Sophomore Ria Meneses pitched in nine points with five blocks.
Playing in their last UAAP game, UE spiker Leuseht Dawis drilled in five points and setter Abegail Ponon managed one point and four excellent sets in two frames of action. Dawis sat out the last two UAAP seasons due to personal reasons but managed to successfully climb back into the lineup.
UST now awaits the results of today’s AdU-FEU tilt and tomorrow’s NU-UP match to determine how many teams are vying for playoff spot and who will be on top after factoring in quotients.
The scores:
UST – Laure 11, Lastimosa 10, Meneses 9, Tunay 6, De Leon 2, Cortez 2, Cabanos 2, Rondina 1, Verutiao 0, Pacres 0, Palec 0, Rasm (L), Dusaran (L)
UE – Adorador 9, Dacaymat 6, Dawis 5, Alcayde 2,Baliton 2, Manansala 1, Abil 1, Ponon 1, Arado (L)
