V-League: UST claims first win, NU secures second triumph

(Updated 6:50pm) The UST Golden Tigresses were able to grab their first win in the Shakey's V-League 10th Season 1st Conference, while the NU Lady Bulldogs were once again victorious, Sunday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

The first match featured the UST Golden Tigresses winning a tightly contested three-setter, 25-23, 25-23, 25-20 against the La Salle Dasmarinas Lady Patriots.  

Fresh from a victorious three-set sweep debut against the Letran Lady Knights, the Lady Patriots started the match in full rhythm as they racked up a 13-9 lead early in the first. With the towering Cherry Rose Nunag and Lumi Yongco, the Lady Patriots were in form to take the opening set easily.

However, the Tigresses showed off their bonafides, as guest player and left-handed hitter Aiza Maizo led the way in UST’s offense with her aggressive spikes. With the Tigresses clawing their way back in form, the set eventually boiled down to a nail-biter, with a deadlocked score of 21-all.

A combination of the Lady Patriots relying on wise plays from Chie Saet and UST’s unforced errors, resulted in La Salle Dasmarinas taking a 23-22 lead. That slim one point lead though would not be enough, as Carmela Tunay would push the Tigresses to first blood with a barrage of cleanly hit spikes.

As the second set began, the Tigresses looked to be in much better form than the first, as they took a five-point lead early at 14-9. Despite a 5-1 scoring run led by guest player Jennifer Manzano that trimmed the UST lead to one at 15-14, the Lady Patriots were unable to handle the Tunay-Maizo scoring tandem.

Running spike specialist Maika Ortiz would bring UST to a comfortable 23-19 lead, only to be challenged and redeemed by the Lady Patriots as the score would arrive tightly at 24-23. UST would however hang on to a slim two-point victory, care of a Pamela Lastimosa block.

The Tigresses struggled early on in the third set as they found themselves trailing at 15-11. A small scoring burst would reduce their deficit to just one, at 15-14, but the Lady Patriots took command once again to extend their advantage to 19-15. However, the La Salle four-point lead quickly disappeared, as the Tigresses erupted with a 10-1 scoring run to take the third set at 25-20.

Rhea Dimaculangan stepped up for UST in that game as she facilitated the Tigresses’ offense with 37 excellent sets.


The second match of the afternoon was a battle of two UAAP teams, namely the National University Lady Bulldogs and the Adamson Lady Falcons, with the former pulling off a four-set win with set scores of 16-25, 25-14, 25-22, 25-15.  

The Bulldogs were ahead by the first technical timeout but only just, with a tight score of 8-7 of the first set. However, the scoring output of Pau Soriano, Faye Guevara and Angela Benting was too much for the Lady Bulldogs blocking, as the Lady Falcons soared to a commanding 18-10 lead. Benting proved to be too explosive for NU as Adamson earned an easy first set win at 25-16.

The second set featured the similar story as NU once again found themselves in the lead by the first technical timeout, 8-6. However this time, Dindin Santiago made sure that her squad would not drop the set. Her all-around play on both offense and defense let her side take a 16-10 lead.

With the consistency from Maricar Nepomuceno’s service game and quality decision-making from guest player Rubie De Leon, the Lady Bulldogs would not look back as they would take the second set at 25-14.

The Lady Bulldogs continued their hot streak in the third set as they racked up a quick 10-5 lead care of their well-adjusted blocking and defense.

Despite the Lady Bulldogs holding the lead in majority of the set, the Lady Falcons find their way back to tie the set at 19, after banking on the composure of Benting, Pineda and Soriano. The match however would go to NU, as Pablo and Santiago led them to a 25-22 third set win.

The early portion of the fourth set featured the dominance of the Santiago sisters, Dindin and Jaja, as they cruised to an 11-2 lead. The Adamson offense was left out of sync and the Lady Bulldogs’ attacks were clicking from every conceivable angle. NU would finish their opponents off with a Santiago spike at 25-15. ?

Rubie De Leon finished with a game-high 38 sets. - CLP/AMD, GMA News


Scores:

Game one -

?University of Sto. Tomas – Lastimosa 15, Maizo 15, Ortiz 12, Tunay 11, De Leon 8, Dimaculangan 3

La Salle Dasmarinas – Yongco 12, Tiangco 10, Manzano 10, Nunag 5, Navidad 3, Saet 3, Bembo 1

Game two -

National University – Santiago 20, Pablo 16, Santiago 10, Nepomuceno 9,  De Leon 9, Aganon 7, Dadang 2

Adamson – Benting 15, Soriano 11, Pineda 7, Guevara 6, Paat 4, Zapanta 4, Cortel 2, Piza 1