Undaunted by their rivalry, the DLSU Lady Spikers restated their dominance over the top-seeded ADMU Lady Eagles in straights sets, 25-17, 25-13, 25-23, exposing their rivals’ vulnerability. The Lady Eagles were previously unbeaten, bowing down only once during the first round, but found their match again in La Salle as they clashed earlier today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The feat paved a clearer route to a coveted four-peat in the UAAP women’s volleyball tourney as the Lady Spikers are assured of a seat in the final four, with a 9-3 win-loss record next best to the Lady Eagles’ 10-2 card. Moreover, the team from Taft is still gunning for a twice-to-beat advantage before advancing to the semi-finals.
Rookie Jolina Dela Cruz led the scoring with 14 points from 11 attacks, two aces, and a block, followed by Aduke Ogunsanya and Lourdes Clemente, who both recorded 10 points to propel the Taft-based team in their win. As her teammates converted points from blocks and spikes, CJ Saga was hailed Player of the Game as she silently contributed to every point, registering 21 excellent digs and 14 excellent receptions.
In the losing effort, Lady Eagle Pauline Gaston chipped in a team-high seven points. The team from Katipunan was contained as no players scored in double digits and not a single kill block done.
“Well, ‘di pwede na puro easy attack or soft attack, mahirap manalo pagka ganun. Kailangan namin ‘tong panalo na ‘to kasi para at least lumayo kami dun sa nakadikit sa amin [sa standings],” head coach Ramil De Jesus shared, talking about their mentality coming in today’s game.
(Well, an easy or soft attack won’t do it. It’s hard to win if it’s like that. We needed this win so we could at least distance ourselves to those sticking to us in the standings.)
Tenacious start
The Lady Spikers opened the match with an attack from the middle, courtesy of veteran Ogunsanya. From there, back and forth action was seen from the two teams as they kept answering each attack they made. To widen their lead from the Lady Eagles, head coach De Jesus substituted May Luna for Tin Tiamzon. From there, Luna contributed three straight points to extend the lead to 18-13. The set ended with a powerful cross court spike from Dela Cruz, giving the first set to DLSU, 25-17.
Carrying their momentum coming from their first set victory, the team from Taft attacked relentlessly from all angles to push themselves to 8-3. The efforts of Clemente, Dela Cruz, and Luna paved the way for the Green-and-White as they capitalized on the lack of defense from the Blue-and-White, 18-8. However, multiple errors from La Salle gave points to Ateneo and halted their own momentum, 19-11. A service error from the Lady Eagles’ rookie, Vanessa Gandler, handed the second set to the Lady Spikers, 25-13.
Taking control
With momentum on the side of the Lasallians, from a two-to-nil set advantage, the Green-and-White continued to maneuver the pace of the game. The team continued to attack from all angles even from the service line, putting the Lady Eagles to a five-point sinkhole, 11-6. The gap was maintained until 22-17, as the Katipunan-based team stepped up to cut the gap to one, 22-21. Grit was shown and the Lady Spikers were able to slowly reach match point off of two errors by the Lady Eagles, and eventually ended the match with an emphatic slide from Ogunsanya, 25-23.
“Naniwala lang kami na hindi kami papayag na makuha nila yun. Hindi namin pinayagan na makuha ‘yung gusto nila. Sabi ko sa isip ko nga, ‘I don’t want to play another set, we’re gonna get this,’” expressed Saga.
(We trusted ourselves that we won’t let them get this (game). We won’t allow them to get what they want. In my mind, ‘I don’t want to play another set, we’re gonna get this’.)
The Lady Spikers will go on a break for the Holy Week and will resume training right after to prepare themselves against the UE Lady Warriors on April 24, at 4 pm at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
The Scores:
DLSU
Dela Cruz – 14, Ogunsanya – 10, Clemente – 10, Luna – 9, Cheng – 4, Tiamzon – 2, Cobb – 2, Alba – 0, Saga – 0
ADMU
Gaston – 7, De Leon – 6, Madayag – 6, Tolentino – 6, Samonte – 4, Wong – 1, Raagas – 0, Gequillana – 0, Ravena – 0
