The DLSU Green Spikers lost their season opener after failing to overcome an early deficit against the UST Golden Spikers in five sets, 21-25, 16-25, 25-15, 25-23, 14-16, earlier today at the Mall of Asia Arena.
UST’s Joshua Umandal led UST with 21 points off of 20 attacks to go with Timothy Tajanlangit who made 34 excellent sets. In the losing effort, John Onia, who scored 20 points for DLSU, was the leading scorer of the team while Jopet Movido made 11 excellent digs.
Slow start
In the first set, La Salle opened the scoring after an error by the Golden Spikers. At three-all, UST scored back-to-back points which gave them a two-point lead. DLSU tried to retaliate but struggled because of multiple attacks made by UST.
The Green Spikers would even the score at 14 points apiece with the help of consecutive attacks by Onia and Woo, but Umandal then answered back for UST by scoring two points. The Green and White had various opportunities to bring the lead within striking distance but the Golden Spikers challenged the defense of the Taft-based squad, forcing the latter to commit unforced errors and give up attacks. UST held on to take the first set, 25-21.
The Golden Spikers then kept their momentum by overwhelming the Green Spikers in the second set, 25-16.
Fighting back
Wayne Marco began the third set with a service ace which led to a 20-7 effort by the Green Spikers. Cris Dumago, Marco, Onia, and Woo scored a total of seven attacks, while three service aces were completed by Marco. UST, on the other hand, committed multiple errors which contributed to La Salle’s scoring run.
The Golden Tigers would try to make a comeback by rallying with a 6-0 run with the help of Umandal and Bautista’s attacks. La Salle would then answer with a 3-0 run which brought them closer to set point. The set would end on an attack made my Onia which gave the Green and White the third set, 25-15.
The fourth set commenced with both teams exchanging points until they reached a stalemate with nine points apiece. UST would get a one-point advantage at the end second technical timeout.
After the timeout, both teams continued to stay within striking distance but neither could get the upper hand. With the game tied at 20 points each, UST gave up four points to DLSU due to errors made and an attack made by Onia, to force a deciding fifth set.
Coming up short
After losing the fourth set, Umandal scored the initial point of the set for UST with an attack. The two teams were tied but UST went on a 4-0 run through efforts by Medina and Jayvee Sumagaysay. The Golden Tigers continued to hold the lead until the 14th point mark in which the Green Spikers tied the game. UST would then win the game after Medina converted an attack into a point and an error made by DLSU sealed the set, 16-14.
DLSU struggled to convert attacks into points, scoring only 47 points with Onia, Woo, and Dumago scoring 20, 15, and 11, respectively. Conversely, UST led in attack points by 10 and had four players accumulating double digit points. The Growling Tigers only managed to attempt 50 blocks and scored 11 points out of it, while the Green Spikers attempted more blocks but only managed to accumulate 10 points.
The Green Spikers will aim to rebound from the loss in their next game against the UP Fighting Maroons on February 10, Saturday, at 10 am at the FilOil Arena.
