UAAP: Lady Spikers advance to semis, Green Spikers take early exit

Earlier today at the MOA Sands by the Bay, the DLSU Green Spikers and Lady Spikers concluded their elimination round of the UAAP Season 79 Beach Volleyball Tournament with 1-6 and 4-3 win-loss records, respectively. With their respective standings, the Green Spikers prematurely ended their campaign while the Lady Spikers booked a seat in the stepladder Final Four.

Green Spikers trounced

The DLSU Green Spikers, which featured Cris Dumago, Wayne Marco, and reserve player Levin Dimayuga, concluded their season with a two-set loss to the ADMU Blue Eagles. The Blue-and-White overpowered La Salle in the first set with a 21-14 scoreline. Despite trying to stage a comeback during the second set, the Green Spikers were overpowered by ADMU, 16-21.

Lady Spikers display championship form

The Lady Spikers faced the ADMU Lady Eagles in their last game of the elimination round. La Salle went on to control the game early on and take the first set, 21-11. La Salle managed to take the succeeding set, 21-16, to notch its fourth victory of the tournament.

Entering the Final Four, the Lady Spikers had to face the Lady Eagles once more. In a thrilling first set, Ernestine Tiamzon and Kim Fajardo defeated ADMU, 21-19. La Salle carried on momentum to take the second set with a commanding 21-11 scoreline behind four consecutive service aces coming from the latter.

In their third match of the day, the Lady Spikers went head-to-head against the twice-to-beat FEU Lady Tamaraws in the Final Four. In what was a closely-fought first set, the Lady Spikers managed to pull away from the Lady Tamarraws, 9-3, behind four unanswered points. FEU kept its composure and managed to fight back into the game, but fell short to La Salle, 21-15.  With the score tied at 18 apiece in a back-and-forth second set, the Lady Tamaraws went on to convert the last three points and edge DLSU, 21-18. The crowd witnessed as many as five deadlocks in the decisive third set until La Salle managed to escape and take the game, 15-12, to negate the twice-to-beat advantage of the Lady Tamaraws.

On having to play three straight do-or-die games with Fajardo, Tiamzon said, “Si Ate Kim, veteran [siya] so she knows that there are some days na where you have to play three games, so sabi nila, kapit lang and play your best.”

The DLSU Lady Spikers will once again face the FEU Lady Tamaraws at 8:30 am tomorrow, Saturday, October 8 in the same venue in a winner-take-all semifinal match. The winner will advance to face the UST Growling Tigresses in a best-of-three championship.