FIRING up the season with a smashing headstart, the UST Tiger Spikers walloped a listless University of the Philippines in straight sets, 25-15, 25-14, 25-11, to couch their back-to-back title aspirations on an immaculate 3-0 win-loss record early in the Season 71 volleyball tournament.
The reigning UAAP champions banked on the attacks of Season 71 beach volleyball MVP Hanry Pecaña and Raykarl Dimaculangan to reap a whopping 11-3 first-set advantage for UST in its Dec.14 face-off with the Maroons at the Far Eastern University (FEU) gym.
UST took a ten-point lead at the turn cushioned by a barrage of kills from its frontliners before Pecaña rose to the net to bury the first-set finisher.
The second set left the Diliman-based squad in a daze as UST pulled away from a 5-all deadlock to seize the upperhand, 10-6. With John Torres leading the charge on the offensive end, the Tiger Spikers proved unstoppable, discharging an 11-point surge to reach set point, 24-14, before new recruit Julius Sioson finalized the count with a kill that gave UST a 2-0 set-lead.
UP carried its volleyball woes in the third set as Torres unlocked a 2-all tie with a flurry of smashes for a 6-3 edge. A rock-steady defense atop the net and kills anchored on Dimaculangan’s heady play-making handed UST an eight-point margin, 12-4. The merciless duo of Season 70 Rookie of the Year Jayson Ramos and Torres added fuel to the Tiger Spikers’ scoring fire via a 10-4 run hinged on solid blocks and gutsy attacks before open hitter Renyjohn Balse iced the match for UST with a spike.
Pecaña top-scored for UST with 13 points, while Dominico Lucindo tallied seven points for UP.
The Tiger Spikers opened their season with a pair of victories over University of the East (25-28, 25-16, 25-22) last Dec. 9 and Adamson University (25-10, 25-17, 22-25, 25-23) last Dec. 7.
Disheartening
Failing to match their male counterparts’ intensity, the Lady Spikers absorbed a heartbreaking 22-25, 20-25, 17-25 loss to Adamson University later in the day.
With lead attacker Aiza Maizo and rookies Bernice Co and Judy Ann Caballejo at the helm of the UST campaign in the first set, the Lady Spikers endured Adamson’s immense defensive and offensive forays to bolt the set at 17 apiece.
But UST inexplicably went cold on defense, allowing Lady Falcon Angela Benting to plunge off-the-block hits, for a 23-19 Adamson breakaway. Seeking for last-minute redemption, Maizo pierced through the Lady Falcons’ court to push the Lady Spikers closer, 22-23, but Rissa Laguilles and Angelica Quinlog retaliated to bail Adamson out of trouble and seize the opening set.
The Lady Spikers’ improved defense in the second canto enabled them to erase a 3-6 deficit and forge a nine-all deadlock. UST later pegged the count at 13-15, but Adamson rallied with a flurry of attacks to clinch its biggest lead in the set, 19-14. Laguilles finished the job for the Lady Falcons amid Caballejo’s last-minute attempts to stop Adamson.
In the third set, UST’s feeble defensive line slowly collapsed under the weight of Adamson’s torrid assault. The Lady Falcons never looked back from thereon, building a seven-point lead, 10-17. Benting and Adamson rookie Paulina Soriano continued the onslaught midway into the set to finally wrest the match and hand UST its second consecutive straight-set defeat.
Aiza Maizo led the Lady Spikers with 15 points, while Soriano tallied 16 markers for Adamson.
In a previous match, La Salle outwitted UST with a straight-set victory, 16-25, 20-25, 22-25 last Dec. 10. However, the Lady Spikers kicked off the season on a winning note, outlasting Far Eastern University, 25-21, 16-25, 25-19, 22-25, 15-12 last Dec. 7.
