In a battle between the two remaining undefeated teams, the DLSU Lady Spikers succumbed to the NU Lady Bulldogs in a five-set thriller, 24-26, 25-19, 25-22, 25-17, 16-14. La Salle earned a four-point advantage late in the last set, 12-8, but errors in attacking seemed to be a significant aspect for the Lady Bulldogs to take over. A service ace from Aiko Urdas sealed the game in favor of NU.
Kim Dy and May Luna combined for 23 points in the losing effort. Meanwhile, Jaja Santiago led all scorers with 27 points on 20 spikes and three service aces.
Ecstatic start
In the first set of the awaited NU and La Salle matchup, both teams started aggressive on the offensive end. The Bulldogs’ blocking, however, was a key factor in their early lead due to their height advantage. NU took a four-point lead over La Salle, 12-16, midway through the opening set. It eventually ballooned to a six-point deficit, 15-21, for La Salle as Santiago and Audrey Paran pierced through the Lady Spikers’ defense.
However, La Salle retaliated with an 8-2 run to halt NU’s plans of securing the first set. A couple of violations from the NU side sparked the run and continued through the efforts of Desiree Cheng and Michelle Cobb. The sophomore once again displayed her skill in service as she scored three aces in the comeback. Finally, a crucial service error from Jorelle Singh resulted to a win-by-two situation. Urdas, however, claimed the first set through consecutive off-the-block kills to stop a DLSU comeback at 24-26.
The Lasallians had trouble controlling their errors in the succeeding set which paved way to a 3-8 NU lead. However, a resilient La Salle squad slowly trimmed down the deficit. A combination play from Cobb and Majoy Baron tied the game at 10 apiece but consecutive attacks from Baron, Dy, and Tiamzon gave DLSU its first lead, 14-13. Conversely, Santiago answered back with various attacks of her own to stay within striking distance. A reception error from La Salle resulted to another deadlock at 19-all. Unfortunately for NU, La Salle went all the way to secure the second set through its collective effort, 25-19.
Struggles to close out
In an attempt to regain momentum, the Lady Spikers scored three straight points to open the third set. Nonetheless, the Lady Bulldogs did not give away easy points. Both teams were soon tied at seven-all, with consecutive points coming from Santiago bringing the momentum back to NU. Alongside Santiago, Risa Sato found her rhythm, adding to what was an already unstoppable Lady Bulldog offense, as NU was in the lead for the two technical timeouts.
However, Cheng and Luna aided the Green-and-White when they needed it the most. Cheng continued to be consistent on the service line providing a service ace to give La Salle a two-point lead, 21-19. Luna, on the other hand, proved to be an important player for DLSU as she spiked to force a bad reception from NU to give the team from Taft the third set, 25-22.
The fourth set started slow as both teams traded points. This changed, however, once the Lady Bulldogs began to show great hustle offensively. NU led the game at the first technical time-out with a four-point lead, 8-4. Santiago continued to prove to be an obstacle for the Lasallians as she scored her 24th point just in the middle of the set. The Lady Spikers were rattled defensively and it translated to their offense which they were unable to spark anew in the fourth set.
Tied with two sets each, the Lady Spikers were determined to fight back, controlling a majority of the fifth set early on as they led the game at the technical timeout, 8-5. The Lady Bulldogs were not to be denied, however, as they easily regained momentum at the latter half of the crucial set as they went on a 5-0 run to have the game tied at 12-all. DLSU’s consistency with errors haunted it as it was unable to get the lead back. DLSU’s first loss in Season 80 was courtesy of Santiago’s spike and a service ace from Urdas that were too much to handle as La Salle dropped the set and consequently, the match.
The Lady Spikers will hope to bounce back in their next game against the UE Lady Red Warriors. They will next take the court at the FilOil Flying V Centre once again on Wednesday, February 21, at 4 pm.
