AWARE of the upset factor in a prolonged championship series, the UST Lady Spikers recalled their top guns from sickbay to finally dispatch the San Sebastian College Lady Stags and claim their second Shakey’s V-League title in three years last July 3 at The Arena in San Juan.
Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) and best attacker Mary Jean Balse endured feverish conditions, along with guest player Suzanne Roces, to spearhead the Lady Spikers’ 25-14, 25-19, 17-25, 25-13 conquest of the Lady Stags in Game 2 for an impressive 8-3 win-loss card at the end of the tournament.
Balse, the league’s inaugural MVP, led UST with 18 points on three blocks and three aces.
“It was our athletes’ chemistry inside the court that made our offense and defense work throughout the game,” coach August Santamaria told the Varsitarian.
Pounding the ball hard on San Sebastian’s brittle floor defense, the towering duo of Balse and UAAP MVP Venus Bernal gave UST a commanding 11-4 advantage which later swelled to an insurmountable 20-8 first-set bubble.
The UAAP Season 69 champions continued their ferocious run in the second frame, bombarding the reigning NCAA titlists with a lethal assortment of quick kills, open spikes, and drop shots to build an imposing 13-5 lead going into the third set.
But San Sebastian refused to surrender, jumpstarting the third set with a decisive 7-0 lead. Although UST threatened to come back at 13-14, the rejuvenated Lady Stags kept their defensive bearings intact, parrying every Thomasian foray atop the net to seize the third canto and force a deciding fourth set.
That third-set breakaway, however, was the best San Sebastian could muster as UST went for the jugular in the fourth set, tearing the Lady Stags’ defense with off-the-block incursions from Balse, Bernal, and Roces to push the España-based spikers upfront, 19-10.
The tireless Balse then put the Lady Stags’ comeback aspirations to rest with a match-point-wresting ace that underscored UST’s successful V-League return after a one-year hiatus.
Thai guest player Jaroensri Bualee led San Sebastian with 22 points, two blocks and an ace while teammate Laurence Latigay added nine points and an ace.
Last July 1, the Lady Spikers placed one foot on the championship door with a clinical 25-17, 25-12, 25-17 drubbing of the Lady Stags in Game 1.
Prior to entering the finals, UST swept its semifinal assignments with straight-set victories over UAAP archrival De La Salle University Lady Archers, 25-14,25-21,25-17 last June 26; the Lyceum University Lady Pirates, 25-19,25-18,25-23, last June 24; and the Lady Stags, 25-22, 25-21,25-21, last June 21.
Bridesmaid finish
The UST High School girls’ team fell short of matching their college counterparts’ title-clinching feat after yielding a 19-25, 17-25, 25-27 loss to eventual champion Hope Christian School in the finals of the Shakey’s V-League juniors NCR leg last July 7 at the Ateneo Blue Eagle Gym.
“It was experience that set us apart from the other team. But despite that advantage, we still have a lot of improvement to do,” coach Francis Vicente told the Varsitarian.
UST bled for their points throughout the contest, trailing by as much as seven in the first two sets as Hope Christian foiled the España-based spikers’ repeated fightbacks from the defensive end.
Hoping to regain lost ground, UST engaged Hope in a neck-and-neck third-set battle. But Hope proved steadier down the stretch, breaking a 23-all deadlock with a four-point cluster to snare the title.
Meanwhile, UST’s Rhea Dimaculangan, Camille Sales and Maruja Banaticla took the best server, best libero, and best attacker awards, respectively.
