University of Santo Tomas pulled off a streak-busting win, halting the erstwhile unbeaten run of University of the East in straight sets, 29-27, 25-23, 25-16, on Wednesday at the Adamson Gym in Ermita, Manila.
Jancriz Ayco played consistently for the now 5-4 Junior Golden Spikers, providing the points needed to carry them through the tight first two sets to hand the lone loss to Jan Macam and the rest of the Junior Warriors with an 8-1 card.
UST almost pulled off a stunner in their final match of the first round against the then-6-0 UE side, but it was the latter who eventually secured a 23-25, 28-26, 25-18, 25-21 victory on December 18.
This time, however, Ayco and company finally pulled it off despite some adjustments from the Junior Warriors.
“I have to give it to the boys. Mas maganda ‘yung pag-handle nila ng pressure in this game, especially nung first two sets na puro side-out lang ‘yun eh,” said assistant coach Rommel Abella, who stood in for head coach Aying Esteban for this game.
“Sana ‘tong game against UE ‘yung maging turnaround from the first round to the second,” he added.
Setter Kalel Legaspi found his points of attack in that rousing third set as UST kept UE at bay by four at 18-14. A net fault was called on Junior Warriors’ setter Andrei Mosuela, and two more kills from middle blocker Sean Cruz and opposite hitter Ayco extended the lead to 22-14.
Clarence Gianan fired two kills from the middle to end the UE drought, but Pao Medino eventually finished the huge 7-2 run with an off-the-block kill for UST’s fifth win against four defeats.
The win tied Adamson University’s 5-4 win-loss record in fourth place as the Baby Falcons did their part earlier in the day with a quick 25-10, 25-4, 25-14 victory against Ateneo.
Meanwhile, reigning champion Far Eastern University-Diliman returned to its winning ways to claim solo third with a 6-3 slate after handling University of the Philippines Integrated School in three sets, 25-11, 25-13, 25-11.
Season 85 Finals MVP and FEU-D captain Rhodson Du-ot ensured that the Baby Tamaraws would stick to the game plan despite fielding different sets of starting six in the three frames of play.
Zedrick Calimlim, who came off the bench for Luis Miguel, provided the muscle for the defending champions’ offense, especially in the second set rout, as middle blockers Vince Rebusquillo and VG Molina pulled off quick kills to break the monotony and surprised the UPIS defense. Miguel then picked up where Calimlim left off to finish the job in the third.
Japhet Casabar and JM Navarro got their usual numbers for the Fighting Maroons, but those were not enough as the Baby Tamaraws bagged a bounce-back victory after suffering successive setbacks against the league-leading Bullpups (25-19, 27-25, 23-25, 22-25, 17-19 on December 18) and Junior Warriors (24-26, 20-25, 21-25) last Saturday.
“Mahirap talaga kasi natalo kami sa (number) 1 and (number) 2, lalo na ‘yung sa UE. Pag-igihan na lang namin siguro sa ensayo and maganda na nanalo uli kami, para mabalik uli ‘yung enjoyment. Lalo pa ‘yung next game namin is NU(NS),” FEU-D head coach RJ del Rosario said.
On the other hand, National University Nazareth School took advantage of earlier results to draw level with UE at the top with an 8-1 slate, all thanks to its clinical 25-10, 25-6, 25-10 win over De La Salle Santiago Zobel School.
The Junior Spikers slipped to 3-6 with the defeat after back-to-back wins against the Fighting Maroons (1-8) and Blue Eagles (0-9).
