After reigning as the league’s dominant champions for three-straight seasons beginning in UAAP 73, the DLSU Lady Spikers suffered a major upset as they lost to their fierce archrivals, the ADMU Lady Eagles. Ateneo overcame La Salle’s thrice-to-beat advantage and ousted DLSU in straight sets today, March 15, at the Mall of Asia Arena in their winner-take-all Game Four of the UAAP Women’s Volleyball Finals, 25-23, 26-24, 25-21.
With the victory, the Lady Eagles ended the Lady Spikers’ bid for a fourth-straight title and won their very first UAAP Women’s Volleyball championship in league history. UAAP 76 MVP Alyssa Valdez was hailed as the Finals MVP after she led her team with 21 points from 18 attacks, two blocks and a service ace.
An early struggle
La Salle’s lack of coverage in the first set gave an early three-point advantage to the Lady Eagles at 4-1. The Lady Spikers then rallied back and scored three straight points to tie the set at 4-all. The Lady Eagles sought the forces of team captain Valdez and Amy Ahomiro to take back a 10-7 lead. The Taft-based Lady Spikers continued to stay behind the Lady Eagles by as much as five points, but attacks from Ara Galang coupled with an error from Valdez trimmed Ateneo’s lead to just two, 15-13. Galang contributed 11 points for the match and was the only Lady Spiker to score in double digits.
The Lady Spikers played steadily and utilized their blocking to stay close behind Ateneo. With an error from Marge Tejada, La Salle was able to tie the set at 17-all. However, the lead shifted back to the Lady Eagles late in the set, 23-21, and it later led to set-point courtesy of a service ace from Ella De Jesus. The Lady Spikers still tried to catch up and cut the lead to a point at 24-23 but a soft hit from Valdez finally sealed the set in favor of Ateneo, 25-23.
A great setback
DLSU responded from the first setback with urgency as they raced to an early 6-2 lead with superior net defense from Mika Reyes. The volleybelles from Katipunan responded with a flurry of on-target spikes to forge an eight-all draw. The Lady Spikers would pull away in the middle of the set, establishing their biggest lead at seven points and looked to have the set for their taking. ADMU rallied back to forge a deadlock at 24-all via a 14-7 difference in spikes. La Salle’s offense froze as their counterparts would steal the set, 26-24.
It was a neck and neck start in the third set, with neither team giving an edge to each other. After a timeout called by Ateneo, La Salle started to wane as they allowed Ateneo a pivotal scoring barrage, giving them a 17-10 lead before another timeout by DLSU was called. A final run by the Lady Spikers put them within four, but Ateneo quickly prevailed, 25-21, to end the series.
DLSU team captain Abigail Marano played in her last match as a Lady Spiker, capping off a successful run which includes three championships, two runner-up finishes, and two MVP awards. Marano’s departure will leave a gaping hole in this team, but Galang and Reyes are expected to step into Marano’s leadership role next season.