THE UST Lady Tennisters capped the tail-end of Season 71 with an immaculate 6-0 win-loss record en route to their third straight UAAP title.
Playing their last game on Valentine’s Day, the Lady Tennisters dealt a hapless De La Salle University squad with a 3-0 heartbreaker to extend their winning streak to 11 games since bagging the UAAP diadem in Season 69.
Lady Tennister Marie Santos led UST’s championship march overwhelming La Salle’s Maria Isabel Sotto, 6-4, 6-2.
In the doubles match, Thomasians Gigi Heller and Macy Solon topped the La Salle duo of Ana Buenviaje and Lourdes Binoya, 6-0, 6-1, while teammates Cristina Santos and Kathleen Castro trounced Steffi Dizon and Kirstie Barraquias, 6-4, 6-2, to catapult UST to the throne.
Sophomore Nikki Manalo bagged her second straight Most Valuable Player award this season.
Earlier in the second round, the Lady Tennisters scored identical 3-2 wins against La Salle, Ateneo de Manila University, and the University of the Philippines (UP) last Feb. 14, Feb. 8 and Feb.1, respectively.
Step down
Unlike their female counterparts, the Male Tennisters conquered all rivals but De La Salle, which won, 1-4, in Game 2 of the finals last Feb. 20.
Male Tennister Keanne Barraquias failed to stop archer Michael Basco’s forehand in the crucial third singles match, 1-6, 5-7, which spelled the end of the two-time UAAP champions’ reign.
“We lacked the motivation. I guess we were also defeated by intimidation given that one of our opponents is the number one in the country,” Male Tennister team captain Wilbur Orillano told the Varsitarian.
Earlier in the first singles matches, Miguel Narvaez took a 0-6, 3-6 trashing from La Salle’s Irwin De Guzman while Thomasian Raymond Villarete retired from a 4-6, 7-5, 0-2 encounter with John Baldonado.
Orillano and Alexander Diego captured UST’s lone win the first doubles match, 6-4, 6-3, against David Koenigswarter and Isaac Sabas. But these efforts were in vain after RP team tennister Patrick Tierro with Jandrick De Castro crushed the UST pair of Gerald Pinili and Ramon Floreza, 0-6, 1-6.
Back in Game 1, the Male Tennisters fared no better against La Salle, absorbing a 3-0 annihilation last Feb. 18.
Prior to the championship series, the Male Tennisters failed to sweep the elimination round after getting mugged by La Salle, 4-1, last Feb 14.
But UST breezed past the rest of its opponents in the second round, pummeling UP, 4-1, University of the East (UE), 5-0, and Ateneo, 4-1, last Feb. 8, Feb. 7 and Feb. 1, respectively. Heinz Jassen D. Brobo
