In sweeping UP in Round 2 of the UAAP women’s volleyball
Games on Sunday (April 5)
(UST Quadcentennial Pavilion)
9 am – UST vs. UE (men)
11 am – UST vs. UE (women)
3pm – NU vs. ADU (men)
5pm – NU vs ADU (women)
UNBEATEN De La Salle University (DLSU) can now enter the weeklong break with one goal on their checklist.
The mighty DLSU Lady Spikers beat the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 25-15, 25-18, 25-20, and clinched their first Final Four ticket with as many games remaining in the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball on Sunday at the UST Quadricent Pavilion.
La Salle needed only 84 minutes to accomplish this task, went up to 10-0 now on the inside track to be motivated twice to hit the Final Four while continuing to sweep two rounds to get an automatic ticket to the best-of-three finals.
The power duo of Shevana Laput and Angel Canino combined for 16 and 15 points, respectively, as the Lady Spikers moved to 16 of their own.th straight postseason appearance since 2009.
Middle blocker Amie Provido paced them with 10 points on four swats while Shane Reterta and Lilay del Castillo chipped in nine and eight points, respectively.
But La Salle is far from satisfied entering the UAAP break in the celebration of the Holy Week, even the journey that continues so far in its rescue mission after the bride-to-be has completed back-to-back comebacks against National University.
The Lady Spikers had no problem taking care of that business by beating the UP Fighting Maroons by a 10-point margin in the first set. Even UP’s strong resistance didn’t matter in the next two as La Salle’s experience was too much for them, running away with a 20-19 cushion in a fiery 5-1 shutout led by Ms. Canino.
La Salle also swept UP, 25-12, 25-15, 25-19, in the first round where they lost only four sets. The Lady Spikers have dropped two sets so far this round, one against Adamson University and one against the University of Santo Tomas entering the final four games.
No player finished in double figures for UP, which dropped five of its last six games to lose momentum in the Final Four race at 4-6.
Niña Ytang and Gelai Gajero are the only standouts with nine points each for the Fighting Maroons now in the race to catch Santo Tomas (5-4) and Adamson (6-4) for the last semifinal ticket.
La Salle tries to close in on a 14-0 sweep and a last-place finish against formidable Far Eastern University (6-3) while UP fights for a must-win game against Ateneo de Manila University (1-9) on Wednesday (April 8) at the Mall of Asia Arena.
In the men’s category, Olayemi Raheem and Yoyong Mendoza scored 17 points each as La Salle tied Ateneo for 4th place again with identical 5-5 slates after a hard-fought win over UP (3-7), 25-22, 25-23, 18-25, 26-24. – John Bryan Ulanday
