Lady Spikers remain undefeated in seven starts

It was the match the DLSU Lady Spikers had been waiting for all year, and now it was at the third set, with them having already two sets in the bag, with a wide 17-8 lead at the third set.

University of Santo Tomas (UST) Tigresses Team Captain Aiza Maizo then fires two consecutive kills coupled by a block, trimming down the Taft-based Squad’s lead to six and forcing mentor Ramil de Jesus to sue for time.

After the huddle, however, the Lady Spikers never looked back, piling point after point before a thunderous spike by sophomore Abigail Maraño sealed the 79-minute encounter between last season’s finalists.

What was anticipated to be a five-setter match turned a one-sided duel, as the Lady Spikers completed a sweep of the first-round eliminations of the UAAP Season 73 Women’s volleyball tournament after trouncing the defending champion UST Tigresses, 25-20, 25-19, 25-12, Jan. 12 at the Fil-Oil Arena in San Juan.

The victory allowed the Green-and-White Squad to end the 18-game winning streak of the Gold-and-White Spikers since Dec. 2009.

Skipper Stephanie Mercado fired in five of her ten points in the crucial stretch of the third frame and was named Best Player of the game. Maraño (nine spikes and three blocks) and Michelle Gumabao (nine spikes and two blocks) also carried the scoring chores for the Centennial squad.

No other than scoring machine Maizo scored in double digits for the Tigresses despite harboring back pains, firing off 16 hits. Teammates Judy Caballero, Maru Banaticla and Maika Ortiz added 13 markers apiece.

The second set turned out to be highly contested between the España and Taft-based squads as they figured in five deadlocks. Toward the end, however, the Lady Spikers made a runaway after league’s leading spiker and server Jacqueline Alarca powered in a tip, which brought the count to 22-19.

Earlier, they started the rampage in the first set after erecting an 11-4 lead after stringing up five consecutive points, as the Tigresses played catch-up for almost the entirety of the match.

When the Shaq delos Santos-mentored squad threatened to cut their sizeable lead, Coach de Jesus fielded last year’s Best Blocker and Rookie of the Year Joanne Siy, who made the made the necessary defensive stops and even forced an error from leading Most Valuable Player candidate Aiza Maizo.

Balanced Attack Disarms Lady Warriors

They may not have played for almost two weeks because of the holiday break, but the DLSU Lady Spikers showed no signs of rust in making quick work of the hapless University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors in straight sets, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21, during their match last Jan. 8 at the Fil-Oil Arena in San Juan to remain unbeaten in six games in the UAAP Women’s Volleyball Tournament.

Abigail Marano led the balanced attack of the Lady Spikers as she tallied a game-high 14 points, including 10 attacks, three blocks and a service ace. Veteran Jacqueline Alarca, who is fifth among the top scorers in the league, backstopped Marano with 11 points.

Notwithstanding a sluggish start at the first set, everything went well for the Taft-based Spikers as they remained the pace-setter among the volleyball teams alongside rival and defending champion UST.

The UE Lady Warriors actually led during the onset of the first set, 9-6, largely because of nine of the 23 unforced errors of La Salle were committed during this junction, before the Lady Spikers took control and uncorked a 5-0 blast which saw them wrest the lead for the first time in the match, on a vicious attack by Alarca.

Another seven-to-nothing surge by the Green-and-White Squad towards the end of the set saw them widen their lead to eight, 24-16, before bagging the first set via a spike by rookie Cydthealee Demecillo.

Riding on the stellar play of Mary Cristel Rosale, who led her team with 13 markers, the Amazons came roaring back at the onset of the second set, leading 5-1 before Marano, Alarca and sophomore Michelle Gumabao took charge to swing the lead back to the side of the Taft-based squad for good.

A numbing kill by Gumabao would propel the team to their biggest lead of the set, 20-12, forcing a time-out from the side of the Recto-based Spikers, who would again yield the set.

The Red-and-White volleybelles would start what would be the match’s final set with the same fervor with which they had started the previous two but were again unable to maintain it against the charge of the unbeaten La Salle Squad.