The UST Lady Woodpushers fell short of a Final Four berth after managing just one win in three matches on Day 2 of the UAAP Season 88 blitz chess tournament on Saturday, April 11, at the Adamson Gym.
UST opened the day with a 3.5-0.5 victory over the Adamson Soaring Falcons before falling, 3.5-0.5, to the Ateneo Blue Eagles and, 2.5-1.5, to the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Woodpushers.
After placing fourth last year in a bronze-medal match loss to the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws, the Lady Woodpushers tied Ateneo with eight match points but fell short in the game-point tiebreak by just 1.5 points, 48.5-47, to settle for fifth place.
Jamaica Lagrio won eight of her 12 matches on Day 2 to finish the eliminations with 11.5 points. Precious Yecla collected 11.5 points through 24 outings, while Princes Oncita tallied four more wins to end the stage with seven points after 16 games.
Rohanisah Buto and Nathalie Liscano both finished 2-2 on their respective boards, while Jenny Tulo recorded her lone point against Ateneo’s Kristine Flores with a 0.5-0.5 draw on Board 4.
In the girls’ division, the UST Junior Lady Woodpushers finished the elimination round as the No. 2 seed after trouncing the National University-Nazareth School (NUNS) Bullpups, 3.5-0.5, followed by a 4-0 sweep of Adamson.
Both UST and the FEU-Diliman Baby Tamaraws ended the elimination round with nine match points, but the Baby Tamaraws won the game-point tiebreak, 66.5-60, relegating the Junior Lady Woodpushers to second place.
Iana Sotaridona and Daren Dela Cruz paced UST with 15 points apiece in the elimination round, followed by Trina Temple, who won six more games on Day 2 to finish with 13.5 points through 16 outings. Kara Meneses ended the stage with 8.5 points in 16 games.
The Junior Lady Woodpushers will face No. 3 NUNS in the Final Four on Sunday afternoon.
