Lady Spikers slay Tigresses, return to UAAP finals

MANILA, Philippines — The DLSU Lady Spikers exacted revenge on the UST Golden Tigresses in four sets, 26-24, 25-22, 20-25, 25-19, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Wednesday to enter the UAAP Season 85 finals.

Armed with a twice-to-beat advantage, the Lady Spikers made sure to extinguish UST’s challenge immediately, marking their return to the championship round for the second season in a row.

This is La Salle's 20th finals appearance overall where they will vie for their 12th title.

The Lady Spikers recovered from an error-prone Set 3 loss where UST came roaring back with a 19-10 lead to extend the match to a fourth set.

While a 10-3 DLSU run slashed UST’s lead to two, 22-20, the Golden Tigresses uncorked three straight points, punctuated by Imee Hernandez’ block on Jolina dela Cruz, to deny La Salle the sweep.

But the run kept some momentum on La Salle’s side as they jumped to an early 14-7 lead in the fourth set.

Thea Gagate blocked Milena Alessandrini to clinch the match point, and the Lady Spikers eliminated the team that denied them the four-peat bid in UAAP Season 81.

The top-seeded Lady Spikers went back-and-forth in the opener against the team that blemished their elimination round record.

A crucial challenge was deemed successful on an Angel Canino hit to bring La Salle to set point anew, 25-24, after back-to-back Eya Laure hits tied the first set at 24-all.

Fifi Sharma then denied Laure at the net off of a triple block to seal the opening set win.

In Set 2, after UST saved two set points, Alessandrini committed a service error as DLSU took the 2-0 lead, 25-22.

La Salle head coach Noel Orcullo said he was delighted that the Lady Spikers were able to shake off their second-round loss to UST. However, he reiterated that the job isn't done yet.

"Happy dahil yun nga, nareedem namin yung pagkatalo namin nung second round. So, eto, nasa finals na. Pero hindi pa tapos ito, mahaba pa. Kaya kailangan pa namin magtraining, mag-improve pa and hanapin pa yung mga pagkukulang namin. So anyway, masaya naman na nanalo," he said.

Canino top-scored for La Salle with 19 points while Dela Cruz added nine. Alleiah Malaluan, meanwhile, provided a spark with nine points.

Player of the game Justine Jazareno manned the floor defense with 22 excellent digs and 16 excellent receptions.

Laure, who has yet to confirm if she’ll return to UST for her final year of eligibility, paced the Tigresses with 15 points.

La Salle awaits the winner of the other Final Four duel between the NU Lady Bulldogs and the Adamson Lady Falcons, where the defending champions hold a twice-to-beat advantage.

Earlier in the men's stepladder semifinals, the FEU Tamaraws moved on as they eliminated the DLSU Green Spikers in four sets, 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22.

Mark Calado uncorked 22 points for the third-ranked Tamaraws to set up a clash with the UST Golden Spikers in the next round.

FEU catches a break as the UAAP decided to scrap the twice-to-beat bonus for second-seeds in the step-ladder format, meaning they figure in a knockout game with the Golden Spikers for a spot in the finals.

"Same [mindset]. Kung ano yung ginawa namin nung una, mag-enjoy. Ibibigay namin yung best namin. Laging all out. Laging ganon," said FEU head coach Rey Diaz of how they'll approach their game against UST on Sunday. 

"From that start yun na yung ginawa namin. Tapos kakapitan pa namin yung faith namin sa taas," he added.