UST endures heartbreaker against La Salle in S85 opener
The UST Golden Tigresses (0–1) fell in a heartbreaking finish in their five-set duel against the DLSU Lady Spikers (1–0), 20–25, 25–16, 8–25, 25–15, 14–16, in their first match of the UAAP Season 85 Women’s volleyball tournament, held Sunday afternoon, at the MOA Arena.
In what became the first five-setter match of Season 85, the Tigresses had a lot of ups and downs.
In the opening set, they led comfortably, 11–2. However, DLSU’s super rookie and player of the game Angel Canino led the comeback to nudge the set into the Archers’ favor, 20–25.
In the next set, UST retaliated with a good showing behind rookie Renee Peñafiel as she and the Tigresses took the momentum through 13 lethal attack points to easily secure the set, 25–16.
However, the Lady Spikers gave them a taste of their own medicine as they limited the Tigresses to a low-scoring set, 25–8.
Hungry for a fifth-set decider, team captain and star player Eya Laure led the Tigresses to score 15 attack points and ended the fourth set early, 25–15.
In the final set, UST trailed early 1–5 through Lady Spiker Thea Gagate’s two consecutive attacks, but returning veteran Milena Alessandrini fused with Laure to keep the team alive, 6–6.
The game went back and forth between the two teams from there on, and eventually, two consecutive crucial errors gave the win to La Salle, 14–16.
As usual, Laure led the team with 19 points, followed by Alessandrini’s 10.They are the only Tigresses who scored double digits.
For DLSU, Canino notched 18 markers, along with 26 combined points from Jolina Dela Cruz and Leila Cruz.
The Tigresses look to quickly recover from this tough loss as they face the FEU Lady Tamaraws (1–0) on Wednesday, March 1, at the same venue. — Joie Frances Timbas
