Aiming to continue their winning streak, the DLSU Lady Spikers dispatched their UAAP Season 80 Finals contender, the FEU Lady Tamaraws, in straight sets, 25-15, 25-19, 26-24, to close the first round of the eliminations at the earlier today at the FilOil Flying V Centre, San Juan. The team from Taft now hold the solo second spot, with a 5-2 win-loss card.
Ernestine Tiamzon led the scoring with 13 points off nine attacks, three aces, and a block. May Luna, Jolina Dela Cruz, and Lourdes Clemente also propelled their victory with 10, nine, and eight points, respectively. Meanwhile, Lycha Ebon was the only one who scored in double digits for the Tamaraws with 10 points from eight attacks and two blocks.
After the game, Tiamzon shared the team’s mantra heading into the second round of the eliminations. “Palagi namin dapat maalala na we have [the] blood of a champion, and dapat hindi namin papakawalan nang ganun ganun lang kasi iyon. Pinaghirapan namin at pinaghirapan din ni coach na tiniyaga niya kami, every training, every game. Push lang po sa second round. Let’s see what happens,” she concluded.
[We have to always keep remember that we have the blood of a champion, and that we should not let go of it. We worked hard for it and coach did not give up on us, every training, every game. That’s all. Let’s push it to the second round. Let’s see what happens.]
Confidently dominating
Kicking off hot with with an 8-1 run to begin the first set, the Lady Spikers immediately pulled away and maintained the engine heated with the team attacking from different angles to finish the set with a 10-point gap, 25-15.
As the two teams traded points coming off the rallies of both teams, the Lady Tamaraws were able to close in at the start of the second set. Although, the Lady Spikers moved away by eight off of Clemente service aces, 13-5. FEU tried to cut the deficit to four, 13-9, but their momentum was halted by a 5-2 run by DLSU, widening the gap to seven, 18-11. The injured captain, Desiree Cheng, emerged from the bench and landed her lone point from an off-the-block spike, sealing a two-set match advantage for the Green-and-White, 25-19.
As for Cheng not starting for the game, De Jesus shared details on her recovery, “Si Des naman okay na, nag-start na siya ng training nung Thursday, ‘di ko muna pinuwersa pero okay na rin. Sabi ko sa kanya, ‘stand by ka lang,’ kasi may connection na yung nag-laro last weekend. Ready naman siya, siguro by next week makaka–focus na siya sa practice.”
[Des was already fine and she started training again last Thursday, but I didn’t want to force it. I told her to just stand by because those who played last time had a connection. She is ready, thought, and maybe by next week she can focus on practice again.]
Settled the scare
Seeking to repeat the first set encounter with a straight set triumph, the Lady Spikers overpowered the Lady Tamaraws with an 8-1 start in the third set. However, the Morayta-based squad began to regain confidence as they slowly climbed up the sink, 14-11, and eventually tied the set at 17-all. As long rallies were fueled by the grit of both teams to win, the game was intensified as the scores were knotted at 24 to scare the three-set win of DLSU. However, the Tamaraws foiled the excitement as they gave away two points from errors that caused them the match, 26-24.
With, by far, her best played match, Clemente took motivation from her bashers and shared, “kailangan ko na mag–wake up call. Yung bashers yung naging way para mag-step up ako.” She concluded, saying, “Thank you na lang sa kanila kasi sila yung naging way para tumapang yung personality ko na lumaban pa.”
[I needed a wake-up call. The bashers became the reason for me to step up my game. Thanks to them because they strengthened my personality to fight even more.]
As of press time, the schedule for the second round of the eliminations is yet to be released. Although, the second-seeded team will seek to snatch the top spot in the second round as they once again battle it out against the other seven UAAP teams.
The scores:
DLSU (76) –Tiamzon 13, Luna 10, Dela Cruz 9, Clemente 8, Ogunsanya 5, Cheng 1, Alba 1, Ipac 1, Nomil 0, Cobb 0, Instrella 0, Saga 0, Hatulan 0, Santos 0
FEU (58) – Ebon 10, Malabanan 9, Domingo 7, Ronquillo 5, Carandang 5, Negrito 3, Villareal 2, Guinoo 1, Hernandez 0, Duremdes 0, Agudo 0, Cayuna 0, Mora 0, Bautista 0
