Tiger Spikers finish off Green Spikers’ gallant stand for seventh straight win
By Rob Andrew Dongiapon
Green Spikers in four thrilling sets, 25–21, 23–25, 30–28, 29–27, in the UAAP Season 85 Men’s volleyball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, on April 2, Sunday evening.
The Tiger Spikers gave up a whopping 48 errors with 24 of which came off service miscues. To put it in context, opponents Green Spikers only had 31 in the game.
UST, however, dominated the attack department, 64–45, as it paid dividends for the Tiger Spikers to salvage the sets and secure their seventh straight win.
Star player and rookie Josh Ybanez dropped 25 points on 24 attacks to lift the Tiger Spikers, while Rainier Flor and Gboy De Vega added 15 markers each.
The win firmly solidified UST’s place in the standings as the sole owners of the second seed via a 9–1 record. On the other hand, the Green Spikers fell to 5–5.
John Mark Ronquillo led the Green Spikers with 20 points while Noel Kampton had 16 to back him up.
The four-set win once looked bleak as the Tiger Spikers found themselves down 18–21 in the fourth set before De Vega and Ybanez took over to deny DLSU’s attempt to force a deciding fifth set, 29–27.
A long third set preceded that which saw the Tiger Spiker cough up multiple service errors down the stretch until DLSU’s own miscues and Ybanez’s offensive strides lifted UST from harm’s way, 30–28.
After the Holy Week break, the Tiger Spikers will return to action on April 15 against the Ateneo Blue Eagles at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
