Lady Spikers hike record to 12-0

The Lady Spikers’ march to a historic season sweep continues.

Twelve games into the Women’s Volleyball Tournament of the UAAP Season 74, and the DLSU Lady Spikers are still on a winning streak. The defending champions are two games away from completing a 14-game sweep of the elimination round, and securing an outright finals berth that carries a thrice-to-beat advantage.

The belles in Green and White hiked their unblemished record to a 12-0 after toying with the UP Lady Maroons and UST Tigresses in straight sets victories.

The Lady Spikers will next face the NU Lady Bulldogs and second-placers Ateneo Lady Eagles as they gun for an automatic seat in the finals.

Reserves shine in win over Lady Maroons      

In all of their previous games, the starters of the Lady Spikers constantly towed the squad to victory. But facing the UP Lady Maroons, tactician Ramil De Jesus challenged the second-stringers to show their mettle.

With the Taft-based squad’s triumvirate of team captain Cha Cruz, Michelle Gumabao, and Abi Marano playing limited minutes, it was the shock troopers of the squad that put the finishing touches to their 25-10, 25-8, 25-18 thrashing of the Lady Maroons last Feb. 4 at the Fil-Oil Arena in San Juan.

With the win, the Green-and-White Squad raised their unblemished record to twelve wins, and are only a couple of victories shy of sweeping the elimination round, which will grant them an outright finals berth along with a thrice-to-beat advantage in the Last Dance.

And in their quest for their twelfth victory, they dispatched the Diliman-based squad in less than an hour despite tinkering with their line-up. Diemmy Tatlonghari and Denice Tan were just two of the squad’s reserves that saw extended minutes; they netted six and five points, respectively.

For the third time in the season, rookie Ara Galang gave another sterling performance, pacing the La Salle volleybelles in scoring with her 10 markers. Gumabao and Marano, who set the tone for the rout finished with nine and seven points, respectively.

The winless Lady Maroons who absorbed their twelfth setback, were led by Karen Del Rosario’s four points, as their offense struggled against the Taft-based Squad. Before the game, both squads paid tribute to the late ex-Lady Maroon and courtside reporter Maan Panganiban, who passed away last week due to lymphoma.

Way beyond expectations            

With the spotlight focusing once again in the volleyball arena in the highly anticipated second round match between last year’s UAAP championship contenders DLSU Lady Spikers and UST Tigresses, the Taft-based squad had it easy this time around.

Despite already clinching a seat in the semis, the Lady Spikers kept their focus and continued to maintain their impeccable performance by sweeping the Tigresses in the tune of 25-20, 25-22, 25-13. The game was far from their very tight first meeting, where DLSU won after five grueling sets.

A One-sided match

It was a see-saw match, particularly in the first part, with both teams fighting tooth-and-nail for every breathtaking point. DLSU won the first two tight sets to build a comfortable two sets to none lead, which took the  spirit and the fight out of the Tigresses; the Lady Spikers dominated the third set. UST had its own taste of the lead in the second set; they topped 13-10 but a timeout lifted the Lady Spikers once again to snatch the set from the feisty Tigresses.

The Lady Spikers dominated almost every aspect of the match. They lead in terms of attacks (35-24), blocks (7-2), digs (28-18) and sets (25-21). The team also managed to limit their errors at 23.

Rookie Victonara Galang, who currently leads the running for best server, led the Green-and-White squad with 12 markers including 10 kills.

Veteran Charleen Cruz added 11 points with 2 service aces and defending UAAP best blocker Michele Gumabao chipped in 8 with also the game high 3 blocks.

No one in the Espanya-based squad scored in double figures as their lead scorer in the game, Judy Caballejo, only scored 9.