The DLSU Lady Spikers clinched their third consecutive win after dismantling the gutsy NU Lady Bulldogs in four sets, 25-10, 20-25, 27-25, 25-22. May Luna led the team with 14 points on 13 attacks. In the losing effort, Princess Robles managed to score a game-high of 18 points on 17 attacks. With the win, the Green-and-White now sports a 3-0 win-loss record.
Obscure first two sets
The first set began with a momentous surge from the Lady Spikers, beginning from a kill block from Aduke Ogunsanya and two attacks from Desiree Cheng and Luna. This gave DLSU a 3-0 lead causing NU to call an early timeout. The NU Lady Bulldogs tried to stop the bleeding with a cross court spike by Robles, cutting the lead to 13-7, however, they only scored three points in the remainder of the first set. Ogunsanya and rookie Jolina Dela Cruz closed the first set, with a total of six of the last eight points at 25-10.
The second set started with errors coming from Luna and Dela Cruz, although, the former was able to score two points from a block and an attack to cut the NU lead. DLSU was able to regain momentum with an early 11-8 advantage, but NU’s Audrey Paran caught fire with three attacks and a service ace giving the team the lead at 13-11. The residue of the set was mostly errors on the side of the Lady Spikers, as the Lady Bulldogs used it to their advantage to score the last four spikes, garnishing the second set for NU. The Lady Bulldogs were able to gain 15 out of the 25 points through attacks alone, while DLSU gave seven oppositional points during the set.
La Salle bounces back
The third set started strong for the Lady Spikers as they were ahead immediately with six points, 8-2. Nonetheless, similar to the second set, the defending champions were not able to sustain the gap between the two teams, as the Lady Bulldogs were able to take advantage with the continuous errors La Salle committed in the service line. The two teams were both aggressive at the offensive end as a total of four ties were seen in the third set alone. Luna ended the tense match after scoring off a block attack, 27-25, to give DLSU the lead with two sets in their pockets.
Robles shed first blood in the fourth set, but Cheng immediately answered back to have the set at 1-all. The two teams continued to score, but it was the Lady Spikers who got into the technical time-out first, 8-5. A Luna and Ogunsanya combination made sure that the Lady Bulldogs were kept in line as they continued to score for DLSU. Clemente also then brought the team from Taft to its second technical time-out in the fourth set with a powerful spike to finally debut her presence in the court, 16-12. NU, led by Paran however, continued to work for her team’s agenda as the Lady Bulldogs were able to cut the deficit to just three, 20-17. Nevertheless, the match ended after the ever-reliable Cheng was able to score off a block to give La Salle its third win of the season.
Clemente, who is in her rookie campaign, stated that, despite her performance, she was not satisfied with her contributions to the team win. “Nakaka–overwhelm pero hindi pa rin ako satisfied sa ginagawa ko today, marami pa ring kulang na pwede ko rin maipakita sa training.”
(It’s overwhelming but I’m not satisfied with what I did today, there are still things that I lack in that I can show during training.)
The match was seen to have both teams bring out the best from each other as four of the Lady Spikers got their career-high records in this match against NU.
Head coach Ramil De Jesus clarified that another win does not signify an automatic finals berth. “It’s a long journey, hindi pwede masabi yun kasi [the] teams today are very competitive. One game at a time, then kung dumating ng semifinals and bigyan ng chance to reach the finals then dun palang natin masasabi ano yung kaya ng team.”
(It’s a long journey, we can’t say that we’re going to the finals immediately because the teams today are competitive. One game at a time, and if we reach the semifinals and if given the chance to reach the finals, that’s when we can tell how far this team will go.)
The Green-and-White will look to continue their winning ways as they face the UP Fighting Maroons this Saturday, March 2, 4 pm at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The scores:
DLSU (97) – Luna 14, Ogunsanya 13, Cheng 12, Dela Cruz 12, Ipac 6, Clemente 5, Cobb 4, Instrella 0, Alba 0, Tiamzon 0, Saga 0
NU (82) – Robles 18, Lacsina 18, Paran 11, Doria 6, Luceno 6, Orillaneda 0, Landicho 0, Chavez 0, Nerva 0
