La Salle, UST square off

MANILA, Philippines — Santo Tomas and La Salle figure in a pivotal duel to stay in the airtight Top-2 race in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball today at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum.

Tied at third to fourth place with 5-3 slates, the Golden Tigresses and the Lady Spikers want no let-up at their 5 p.m. clash in a mission to catch up with the FEU Lady Tamaraws enjoying solo second spot at 6-3.

At 1 p.m., Ateneo (3-5) and Adamson (3-5) try to keep afloat in the Final Four race while the men’s division also offer interesting battles featuring La Salle (5-3) and Santo Tomas (4-4) at 9 a.m. as well as Ateneo (5-3) and Adamson at 11 a.m.

Both Santo Tomas and La Salle head into the crucial turn fresh off big losses, making it a gigantic duel between last year’s semifinalists and considered as the biggest threat to the reign of the NU Lady Bulldogs’, still at No. 1 with an 8-1 slate despite a stunning five-setter defeat to UP.

As erstwhile red-hot Santo Tomas absorbed a season-sweep against rising FEU, 22-25, 24-26, 25-17, 24-26, La Salle also got blanked by NU this season, 19-25, 25-22, 20-25, 18-25.

A tale of contrast it is for the two rivals with the Golden Tigresses absorbing their second straight loss after a five-game winning run as opposed to the Lady Spikers, whose own four-game run just got snapped.

But the favor is on Santo Tomas, which has a mastery of La Salle so far with a 25-12, 22-25, 13-25, 25-23, 15-13 come-from-behind triumph in the first round.

It was Santo Tomas which also eliminated then reigning champion La Salle from contention in the Final Four last season.

And the wards of coach Kungfu Reyes are not keen on allowing a narrative change at this point, especially with the mad scramble to the Top Two and the coveted twice-to-beat incentives getting spicier each game.

Super sophomore Angge Poyos and spiker Regina Jurado spearhead the way for Santo Tomas against the lethal duo of Angel Canino and Shevana Laput – all MVP contenders – in the big-time tussle.