Needing several wake-up calls during the match, defending champions De La Salle University Lady Spikers doused strong rallies from the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses to seal their second win, 25-22, 16-25, 25-14, 25-22, at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
The Lady Spikers showed their signature championship poise to begin the match, breaking away from a 20-all deadlock in the first set with a 3-0 run off clutch defensive plays. The Tigresses then turned the tables in the second frame, leaping out to a 16-7 lead thanks to Sisi Rondina’s serving and Mary Pacres’ offensive contributions.
Fuming due to the lack of effort, La Salle head coach called for steadier contributions from his veterans.
“Nawalan agad kami ng energy at ng receive. Hindi naman pwedeng ganoon kami kasi talagang matatalo kami. Kailangan ipakita nila na gusto nilang manalo,” said De Jesus. “Nakita ko na medyo disorganized kami sa blocking at depensa. Kaya sinabi ko lang na mag-relax.”
The Lady Spikers started with a thrashing in the third set, stifling the stagnant UST offense. La Salle’s dominance leaked out into the fourth set as they took an 18-9 lead, but UST negotiated one last run. The Tigresses slowly climbed back to trim the lead to 20-22. But errors haunted their comeback, as the Tigresses surrendered two in the match’s last four points.
“Makikita mo sa team ‘yung kagustuhan nilang humabol kapag ganoong hinahabol kami. Kahit nahahabol kami, at least nagpakita ng laban ‘yung team,” added De Jesus.
The Lady Spikers lorded it over the Tigresses on the block and serve, netting 10 points each from both skills. UST also surrendered 32 errors to La Salle’s 23.
Kianna Dy towed La Salle with 16 points, while Tine Tiamzon added 14.
The Lady Spikers improved their record to 2-0 and will face the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons (2-0) on Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
UST open hitters Cherry Rondina and Ej Laure each tallied 13 points, while Ria Meneses added 10 markers.
The Tigresses skid to 0-2 and will face the University of the East Lady Warriors in a battle of two winless squads on Wednesday.
The Scores
DLSU (3) – Dy 16, Tiamzon 14, Baron 10, Fajardo 8, Cheng 5, Ogunsanya 5, Luna 1, Cobb 0, Macandili (L)
UST (1) – Laure 13, Rondina 13, Meneses 10, Pacres 10, Cortez 6, Viray 5, Lastimosa 3, Palec 1, Cabanos 0, Francisco 0, Sandoval 0, Rasmo (L)
