UST netters go for kill vs La Salle

Santo Tomas will try to use the momentum of its come-from-behind victory in Game 1 when it goes for the kill today against La Salle in their best-of-three title showdown for the Shakey’s V-League volleyball crown at the Lyceum Gym.

Leaning on the heroics of the power-hitting troika of Mary Jean Balse, Venus Bernal and Joyce Paño, the Tigresses came back from a first-set loss to fashion out a 17-25, 25-21,25-16, 25-16 win Thursday.

The España-based netters and the Lady Archers, the reigning UAAP volley champions, go at it again at 4 p.m. A victory by La Salle will forge a decisive Game 3 next week.

The game will be aired live on IBC-13. Admission is free.

"Of course, we’ll try to go for it on Sunday (today)," said UST coach August Sta. Maria minutes after the Game 1 triumph that took them a little less than an hour to finish.

Sta. Maria is hoping for his players to toughen up on their defense, particularly up front where La Salle is expected to pound its way again with their equally-strong spikers.

This means containing, if not completely stopping, La Salle’s hitters – Maureen Penetrante, Desiree Hernandez and Carissa Gotis – in the finals of this tournament sponsored by Shakey’s and backed by Mikasa and Accel.

Skipper Penetrante churned out 23 points – 15 on attacks and seven on blocks – but got slowed down by Santo Tomas’ rock solid defense at the net.

Hernandez, the 2003 UAAP MVP, was limited to just 10 points, five on attacks, while Gotis fared even worse as she could only sneak in five points out of the more than 20 times she attacked the net.

"I keep telling my players that if we play defense, meaning receive well and block well, then we’ll have a strong chance of beating a strong team like La Salle again," said Sta. Maria.

Santo Tomas is playing without its top defender Kate Co Yu Kang, who leads the team in receptions but is currently with the national squad competing in the Princess Cup in Thailand.

But with or without Co Yu Kang, the team remains as formidable as ever with Balse, Bernal, Pano, setter Lourdes Palomo, Anna Eliza Fulo, Vida Rica Gutierrez and libero Missy Cruz dishing out heads-up games.