Lady Woodpushers reclaim championship, Green Woodpushers finish third

DLSU’s chess teams remained one of the top squads in the UAAP Season 78 Chess Tournament despite encountering some early setbacks. After winning the championship in Season 77, the Green Woodpushers could not build on their strong start after finishing in third place, while NU took their third men’s title. The Lady Woodpushers, on the other hand, clinched the championship after falling short last season.

The Green Woodpushers entered the season with high expectations as the tournament’s defending champions. However, team preparations hit a stumbling block as Jerad Docena, last year’s Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year awardee, suddenly left the team. Without their ace player at their disposal, the rest of the squad had to step up.

To start off the competition, the boys won their first three contests, showing that they can still win without their MVP. However, their performance would decline over the next several matches as they would remain in fourth place in the standings for most of the tournament. The good news was that they only trailed the third-place FEU Tamaraws by half a point heading into the last few games of the season, meaning a podium finish was still possible for La Salle.

As fate would have it, the Green Woodpushers would face the Tamaraws in the final game of the season. Not wanting to waste the opportunity, La Salle would beat FEU in the crucial match, 3.0-1.0, scoring enough points to overtake them. DLSU had 29 points compared to the Tamaraws’ 28.5 by season’s end.

The Lady Woodpushers remained dominant all throughout the tournament as they emerged as champions for the fifth time in six seasons after overcoming the FEU Lady Tamaraws on points. Finishing the season with 42.5 points, the Lady Woodpushers gave La Salle its sixth championship in the women’s division. With 38.5 points, the FEU Lady Woodpushers came in at second, while UP finished in third place with 34 points.

DLSU’s run to the title was led by veteran Bernadette Galas, who was named the tournament MVP. Moreover, La Salle’s Marie Antonette San Diego grabbed the Rookie of the Year Award for her efforts in Season 78.

Although La Salle fell two places short of clinching a double championship, the podium finishes proved to be very crucial to the General Championship (GC) race, as the Woodpushers garnered 25 points, the highest combined total amongst the other teams.