By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
THE University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses are back in the finals of women’s volleyball in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines after eight years following their hard-earned disposal of defending champions De La Salle Lady Spikers in five sets on Sunday in their Final Four joust at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Carried a twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals, the Tigresses wound up not using it as the team got off to a strong start and dug deep in the end led by super rookie Eya Laure to beat the Lady Spikers, 25-19, 25-19, 20-25, 23-25 and 15-10, to barge into their first UAAP Finals since Season 73.
La Salle got early traction to begin the game but UST was quick to adjust to claim the lead in each of the two technical breaks.
The Tigresses would use it to as a springboard to race to the set win and the 1-0 lead in the match.
In the second frame, the game took a familiar route with the Lady Spikers getting some early success before graduating captain Sisi Rondina and the Tigresses made their move to go ahead 16-13 midway.
UST stretched its lead to 20-15 after and was looking to pull away.
La Salle, led by rookie Jolina Dela Cruz and Des Clemente, would make a run to come within two points, 21-19.
Service errors though would cause the Lady Spikers the set as they saw the Tigresses go up, 2-0.
The two teams fought hard to begin the third set, fighting to an 8-7 count by the first technical break.
UST then raced to a 15-10 lead after only to find La Salle charging back to overtake it, 16-15, at the halfway juncture.
The Lady Spikers used the momentum they got to create further distance the rest of the way and eventually narrow the gap, 2-1.
Laure got the Tigresses going in the fourth set, helping her team build a 5-1 lead at the starting block.
But Des Cheng would lead the Lady Spikers to level the count at 5-all.
The Tigresses though continued to hold sway by the first technical timeout, 8-6.
La Salle remained undeterred, shooting its way to level the score at 11-all and still within striking distance, 16-15, midway.
It would continue to put the pressure on UST, and sped to a 23-19 advantage.
Caitlin Viray and Laure pushed the Tigresses to within a point, 24-23, after.
But the Lady Spikers hung on to claim the set and level the game score at 2-2 and force the contest to a sudden death fifth set.
In the decider, Laure pushed her team to a 3-0 lead from which the rest of the team took cue from to hold an 8-5 lead by the switch.
UST continued to pour it in and extended its lead to five points, 10-5. La Salle, however, racked up three straight points, to narrow the gap at 10-8.
Laure stopped the bleeding for UST with a kill to give her team an 11-8 breathing space.
The Lady Spikers managed to pull to within a point, 11-10, after which UST scored back-to-back to build a 13-10 advantage.
Laure pushed the Tigresses to match point, 14-10, with another kill and finished things off to send UST to the championship.
Laure paced UST with 25 points, 21 of which off attacks. Rondina had 17 while KC Galdones and Viray had 11 and 10 points, respectively.
“It was a privilege for us to face the defending champions. We learned a lot from them and at the same time it served as a motivation for us. We’re happy with this win and finally go over them,” a jubilant UST coach Kungfu Reyes said after their victory.
The loss stopped for La Salle a streak of 10 straight UAAP Finals appearances.