Tigresses fulfill historic grandslam in V-League

It's been nearly 15 years since the last time the region's oldest collegiate institution had this frenzy atmosphere, but University of Santo Tomas has every reason to do so.

That's because their Tigresses fulfilled a date with history by completing a rare grand slam and annexing their sixth title in the Shakey's V-League Thursday night at The Arena in San Juan. Pushed to the limit and stretched to a no tomorrow encounter, the Tigresses outlasted the San Sebastian Lady Stags in four sets, 25-20, 25-27, 25-12, 25-15, to capture this year’s championship in front of a packed crowd. The Tigresses collectively regained their composure after losing the second set. Nine straight points capped by Mary Jean Balse's four aces got everything going for the Tigresses. The España-based spikers where never threatened from there playing true to form in the fourth set to secure the win and pocket the title. "I'm so happy that we won again. We worked hard to get this championship," said Tigresses coach Cesael Delos Santos. "We were able to make some adjustments from our loss in Game 2 and caught San Sebastian by surprise." That nine consecutive points turned a 12-9 lead into a commanding 21-9 advantage to eventually claim the third set. Fittingly, the championship-clinching point came from an error as Rhea Dimaculangan served it into libero Margarita Pepito, who botched the reception into a small section of the 5,184 fans that saw the action. It was UST's fifth title in a span of 12 months. Aside from three V-League titles, UST also bagged the UAAP crown and the UniGames title in Iloilo City during that stretch. Lefty spiker Aiza Maizo once again led UST's attack by finishing with 17 points enough to earn her the Finals' most valuable player award for the second straight conference. But the 5-foot-10, 22-year-old Iloilo native, wasn't the lone star in UST's win. She got more than a little help from here friends to make up for the absence of the injured Angeli Tabaquero (knee injury) and a hurting Maru Banaticla not in full condition. Maika Ortiz delivered 16 points, Balse had 13, Dimaculangan registered 12 and lanky Dindin Santiago chipped in nine points. Santiago, who made a lone appearance in this best-of-three series, has been rumored to be leaving the team after this conference and possibly move to another UAAP school. "Dindin was really a big help for us," Delos Santos said of Santiago. "She came in prepared for this game and I'm glad she was able to contribute." "We just came in and enjoy playing, I think it helped," said Maizo, also UST's team captain. "We were ready for any situation, whether we win or lose this game." Joy Benito, the reigning NCAA MVP, led San Sebastian with 17 points while Thai guest player Jeng Bualee and Conference MVP Suzanne Roces added 16 and 13 points, respectively. Perhaps, the most disappointed of the three is Bualee, who suffered her fifth defeat in a finals series since debuting in 2006. Overall, San Sebastian lost for the fifth time in six finals appearances, four came at the expense of UST. "We didn't play well," said Lady Stags coach Roger Gorayeb, whose squad made 22 errors. "They should have exerted more effort and not rely on the other team's mistakes." Meanwhile, Ateneo secured third place honors by beating Lyceum. - JVP/RCJ, GMANews.TV