Sweetest sweep: Lady Spikers rip Eagles for 3-peat

MANILA, Philippines - La Salle was simply a green, mean machine throughout.

The Lady Spikers unleashed one of their most feared forms in the season as they dominated arch rivals the Ateneo Lady Eagles, 25-23, 25-20, 25-16, to sweep the UAAP women’s volleyball crown and complete a three-peat yesterday.

It was a stirring victory for the Taft-based squad, which smothered a gutsy but outclassed an Ateneo side at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Thus ended a torrid title series between two rivals that did so much for the sport as they played before record turnouts that could only be matched by their men’s basketball counterparts.

Mika Reyes stood at the forefront of the Lady Spikers’ stonewall defense, thwarting seven shots and outblocking the entire Lady Eagles team (four blocks total), while co-MVPs Abi Maraño and Ara Galang dished out solid efforts to lead DLSU to a sweep of the best-of-three series before a crowd of 18,779.

La Salle ground out a tough 20-25, 17-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-6 decision in Game One at the Big Dome last Saturday.  

“This is sweet because this is the fruit of the labor of the girls, they worked hard for this,” said La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus, who notched his 190th win in the league, achieved his second three-peat (Seasons 66-69) and raised his trophy collection to eight overall.

“It’s also sweet because this is a great exit for our seniors (Melissa) Gohing and  (Wensh) Tiu,” he added.

Gohing, DLSU’s libero, helped significantly with her non-scoring skill, chalking up 17 digs with eight good receptions. She capped her UAAP stint with four championships in five finals appearances, enough reason to make her shed tears after playing her last game.

Reyes punched in 16 points, her exploits most noted in the second frame in which she scored six in leading the Lady Archers’ fightback from a 13-17 deficit to steal the set.

“I saw their heart in the second set and from then on, I knew, we can win this,” said de Jesus, citing his wards’ “court IQ.”

Maraño and Galang, who finished with 12 points apiece, took over in the third set as DLSU imposed its will to deliver the coup de grace. 

La Salle’s blocking made life miserable for Ateneo, their 17th block securing the championship point. 

De Jesus raised his two arms in triumph, the Lady Spikers struck an “archer’s pose” as white confetti fell. Team manager Mikee Romero congratulated the team and rewarded his wards with a trip to Hong Kong.

“We conditioned our minds to believe that we can be champions again,” said Finals MVP Michelle Gumabao.

Best Scorer Alyssa Valdez made 14 points for Ateneo, which settled for a second straight runner-up honors and failed to give its graduating â€œFab 5” – Dzi Gervacio, Fille Cainglet, Gretchen Ho, A Nagachi, and Best Setter Jem Ferrer – a fitting valedictory.

Meanwhile, its title on the line, Far Eastern U Tamaraws put up a king-sized effort to foil National U,25-23,17-25, 25-20, 25-23, and force a deciding Game Three on Saturday at the FilOil Arena.

Karl dela Calzada banged in 18 points and Alexis Faytaren added 16 as the Tams bounced back from their five-set setback in the opener to level the series and set the stage for a rubber match.

Meanwhile, the league saw a rare occurrence in the individual awards with the naming of co-MVPs in both the men’s and women’s divisions.

La Salle teammates Maraño and Galang shared the top individual plum while University of Santo Tomas’ Mark Gil Alfafara and La Salle’s Red Christensen were adjudged the season’s best in the men’s side.

It was the second straight MVP accolade for Maraño, who averaged 10.9 points and also went home with the Best Blocker award (3.1 blocks per game). Galang, last year’s top rookie, earned the nod with solid averages of 9.6 kills, 1.7 blocks and 1.3 service aces.

The duo beat a host of candidates including, Valdez, who won the Best Scorer plum. 

Alfafara normed 15.4 points per outing with 11.2 kills, 2.9 blocks and 1.4 aces for the Tigers while Christensen churned out 12.0 points per outing for the Green Archers to split top honors.