V-League: UST survives five-setter, NU keeps perfect record after battle of undefeateds

(Updated 7:41pm) On a jam-packed Sunday that saw four UAAP teams do battle in the Shakey's V-League, the UST Golden Tigresses and the NU Lady Bulldogs put on a show, garnering key victories at the FilOil Flying V Arena, in the quarterfinals portion of the tourney. In the first game, UST needed five sets to beat the Adamson Lady Falcons, 25-19, 25-20, 22-25, 16-25, 15-7. That put UST at 2-0 in Group II of the quarters, while Adamson suffered their first loss, to slide to 2-1. The first set was a back-and-forth affair as UST held a slim lead by the first technical timeout, by a score of 8-7. The Tigresses had their hands full against the high-flying Angela Benting, as she was able to maneuver to score in almost every single angle on the court. With Shiela Pineda and Pau Soriano as additional firepower for the Lady Falcons, Adamson found themselves ahead at 13-10. UST however would fight back to regain the lead at 15-14, due to careless mistakes displayed on the floor by the girls in blue. The Tigresses’ guest player, Aiza Maizo would take advantage of the sloppy movement of the Lady Falcons, as her cleanly-hit spikes delivered the set for UST at 25-19. Carrying on from the momentum they built in the first set, Carmela Tunay led the Tigresses to a quick 4-1 start. Adamson would retaliate with a spark coming off the bench from Luisa Mae Zapanta to bring the Lady Falcons ahead at the first technical timeout, with a score of 8-7. Tunay of UST however would not lose a step, as her consistency kept the Tigresses aggressive and on-target. Her back-to-back service aces lifted UST ahead to 18-14, which was all the advantage the Tigresses needed. Maizo, Aika Ortiz and Pamela Lastimosa wrapped the set up with their deep and sharp attacks at 25-20. Carrying a 2-0 lead entering the third set, the Tigresses looked forward to finishing the match in three sets as they carried a 9-6 lead early on. But the Lady Falcons refused to go down without a fight, as players such as Marleen Cortel and Faye Guevara supported Pau Soriano, Shiela Pineda and Angela Benting in capturing the lead at 17-16. The Lady Falcons would extend their lead to 23-20 before Jessey De Leon helped the Tigresses inch a bit closer at 23-22. Fortunately for Adamson, they made enough adjustments to deliver under pressure as they forced a fourth set with a score of 25-22. The frustrating third set for UST served as a wake-up call for the Tigresses as they commanded a quick lead at 9-5 in the fourth. But Soriano showed why she’s considered as one of the marquee players on the Adamson side, as she pushed the Lady Falcons back in front, 12-11. It was all Adamson at that point as the Pineda-Soriano tandem showed too much emotion and firepower, forcing a fifth and final set via a 25-16 win. UST however had too much offense on their team as three straight points from Pamela Lastimosa brought them on top at 6-4 in the decider. With the additional momentum coming from Ingrid Reyes providing big points, the Tigresses were too much of a force for the surging Lady Falcons. UST finished the match with Ortiz’s specialty, the running spike, at 15-7. Pau Soriano notched a game-high 25 points with Pineda following it up with 12 for the Lady Falcons. On the other side, Maika Ortiz scored 17, Aiza Maizo added 15 and Pamela Lastimosa and Carmela Tunay pitched in wit 14 and 10 markers respectively. Rhea Dimaculangan was vital in the Tigresses’ victory as she led the game in excellent sets with 34.