RUST MAY have slowed them a little. But the UST Lady Spikers’ resiliency kept them going, as they swept the 2006 National Intercollegiate Volleyball tournament last May 13-19 at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines (PUP) gym.
The UAAP Season 68 fourth placers, who had not competed in tournaments since November, capped the first phase of its UAAP warm-up with a 25-16, 22-25, 25-19, 25-13 bashing of the University of Cordillera Lady Jaguars in the finals.
Mary Jean Balse underscored her billing as tournament MVP with 17 points on nine attacks and seven blocks to help the Lady Spikers paceset the match in one hour and 57 minutes. Tournament Best Attacker Venus Bernal backstopped Balse with nine attack points and five blocks.
Despite the victory, Coach August Santamaria said the Lady Spikers are far from solidifying its defense, which he believed caused their downfall in the second set.
“Their (Lady Spikers) defensive formation was in disarray because they focused more on offense,” Santamaria said. “Naging pabaya sila kasi akala nila hindi makakabawi ‘yung kalaban.”
The Lady Spikers found a hard time retrieving the ball in the second frame as they fell behind, 14-18. Capitalizing on the Lady Jaguars’ blunders, the Lady Spikers rallied behind Bernal, 22-23. But two errors from setter Denise Tan gave the set to Cordillera.
To atone for from their erratic floor defense, the Lady Spikers used potent blocking to thwart Cordillera’s attacks at the net and build a 21-14 third set advantage. UST then commanded the match from the frontline as Balse, Tan, Bernal, and team captain Ana Fulo took turns in piercing Cordillera’sdefense with dagger kills and drop shots.
Three service aces from the 5-foot-11 Balse and a down-the-line smash from rookie Kimberly Lazaro in the final set forged the Lady Spikers’ date with destiny.
Center spiker Jomilyn Lopez led the Baguio-Benguet Educational Athletic Leagues champions with 10 points, including eight from attacks.
During the eliminations, the Lady Spikers demolished the Lady Jaguars, 25-17, 25-9, 25-17.
The steady arms of rookie libero Cherry Ann Balse helped the Lady Spikers outlast the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Lady Technocrats, 25-18, 25-14, 25-10 last May 17.
Newcomers Aiza Maizo and Razel Marie Masinda also did well in relieving Balse, Fulo, and Bernal on the attack zone in the Lady Spikers’ victories over University of Perpetual Help Systems-Dalta (25-11, 25-5, 25-16) and University of the Philippines (25-12, 25-17, 25-16).
Debuting against Emilio Aguinaldo College Lady Generals last May 13, the Lady Spikers had to overcome service jitters before prevailing, 25-10, 25-11, 25-13.
Poor reception disrupted UST’s fast-paced offense against St. Louie University Lady Navigators as it turned the ball over 24 times before hacking out a 25-19, 25-21, 25-7 victory last May 14.
Needed improvements
Santamaria stressed that a five-month layoff after the UAAP sorely affected the Lady Spikers’ teamwork.
On the other hand, the multi-titled mentor said skipping the V-League has helped the Lady Spikers concentrate better on their preparation for the UAAP.
“In the past we focused more on the (V-League) that when the UAAP comes, we had a hard time adjusting to our system because the team got used to playing with the imports,” he said.
Santamaria also cited setting, receiving, and blocking as three key areas the Lady Spikers need to work on in the succeeding stages of their training.
