Nearly suffering a major collapse, the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses shut down the Adamson University Lady Falcons in the fifth set to take a 25-21, 25-22, 24-26, 24-26, 15-6 win, to open their Season 81 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Both squads traded big hits and errors to open the match. With UST holding on to a 19-18 lead, Alina Bicar began a string of solid serving that ended with Eya Laure finishing consecutive transition plays, giving the Tigresses a 24-21 lead. Following an Adamson timeout, UST’s Fil-Italian winger Milena Alessandrini fired an ace to cap the frame.
The Lady Falcons stayed on UST’s trail in the second set, trimming a three-point deficit down to one, 19-18. From there, Laure took over again, scoring thrice in a run that put UST ahead for good 24-19.
Adamson took their first big lead of the match in the third frame after two Sisi Rondina errors bloated their cushion to five, 12-7. The Lady Falcons’ own errors boosted the Tigresses’ push, however, and turned the set into another grinder. Tied at 21 after an Eli Soyud service error, the Tigresses lost their footing in two straight long rallies, before Rondina got blocked by Krich Macaslan putting Adamson up, 24-21. Rondina came back on the following sequence, punctuating a combination play, while Laure followed with a monstrous block on Bernadette Flora. Rondina then roofed Flora on a botched combination play, setting up Soyud’s late heroics. The opposite spiker swung on back-to-back plays to extend the match.
The Lady Falcons continued to roll into the fourth set, taking a 16-10 lead. But Adamson’s offense quickly nosedived, as they struggled to pass and allowed UST to force a 17-all tie. Errors doomed the Lady Falcons to a 19-23 gap. But then Adamson middle blocker Joy Dacoron caught fire, responding with a flurry of blocks and hits that pushed the Lady Falcons to a 7-1 blitz.
A 5-0 UST surge greeted the Lady Falcons in the decider. The Tigresses benefited from Adamson miscues down the stretch, grabbing a 12-4 lead to close the match.
“Up-and-down ‘yung laro kanina. Control namin yung first two sets namin. 3rd and fourth kaliwa’t kanan,” said UST head coach Kungfu Reyes who noted that this was his team’s first opening day win in four years.
“Nagkaroon na lang ng breaks of the game sa dulo, pero noong fifth set naman, nanalo kami. ‘Yun ang importante,” he added.
Laure, a former UAAP Juniors MVP, debuted with 17 points, while Rondina also had 17. Alessandrini followed close with 15 markers.
Flora topped the Lady Falcons with 14 markers, while Eli Soyud added 13. Both teams gave up whopping error tallies, with Adamson surrendering 44 and UST giving up 41.
UST (1-0) next take on the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles (0-0) on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Adamson (0-1) play the De La Salle University Lady Spikers (0-0) on Saturday. Both matches will be played at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
The Scores
UST (3) – Rondina 17, Laure 17, Alessandrini 15, Galdones 8, Roldan 4, Viray 4, Bicar 3, Galanza 1, Jimenez 0, Delerio (L)
AdU (2) – Flora 14, Soyud 13, Permentilla 12, Dacoron 10, Yondoc 4, Genesis 3, Macaslang 2, Ave 0, Balang 0, Igao 0, Ponce (L)
