Lady Eagles overwhelm Archers

Ateneo pulled off one of the most stirring victories in the Shakey’s V-League women’s volleyball tournament, battling from a set down and shocking fancied La Salle, 19-25, 25-15, 25-23, 25-17, even as University of Santo Tomas played true to form and walloped San Sebastian College at the start of the semifinal round at Rizal Coliseum yesterday.

It was indeed a stunning victory for the Lady Eagles, who came into the match reeling from twin losses to the Lady Archers in the elims but flashed some kind of resiliency and lots of guts to topple the most fancied team in the fold.

Michelle Laborte came through with 19 points while three others churned out double-digit scores to underscore Ateneo’s balanced offensive sock. Amelia Guanco had 12 while Iris Ortega and Cecille Tabuena each had 10 points for the Lady Eagles.

Michelle Carolino fired 19 points while Manilla Santos chipped in 10 points for La Salle, which swept its first eight games in the elims but lost the last two.

Make it three as last night’s setback stymied the Lady Archers’ bid for a second straight title in this event sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza after ruling the 2004 second conference.

The Ateneo-La Salle match will be shown on IBC-13 starting at 7 tonight.

Earlier, UST, after scrambling in the elimination round where it scraped their way to seven wins in 10 outings, played better and proved deadlier this time as it took away the attacking game of San Sebastian with a solid defense to fashion out the one-hour and 10-minute victory.

First conference MVP Mary Jean Balse, Roxanne Pimentel and Venus Bernal combined for 35 points.