IN THE END, it all boiled down to who had the most experience.
Bolstered by a veteran crew, the UST Lady Spikers prevailed over the Adamson University Lady Falcons, 23-25, 25-12, 27-25, 25-19, en route to clinching their fifth championship in the finals match of the sixth Shakey’s V-League, last December 1 at the San Juan Arena.
“Their performance was a little inconsistent. But the players have the experience that brought us to the championship,” coach Cesael delos Santos said.
UST limped in the opening round, due to weak defense which allowed Adamson to carve a 6-0 run anchored on the service aces of Jill Gustillo. The Spikers eventually gave the set away to Adamson, 23-25, but returned to reap payback in the next canto, with Judy Ann Caballejo leading the scoring cudgels for UST to compensate for mainstay Angeli Tabaquero’s lackluster performance.
Guest player Roxanne Pimentel sparked an early 8-1 advantage for the Lady Spikers with a quick kill and a service ace in the succeeding plays. Most Valuable Player Aiza Maizo delivered the haymaker to ice the set with a whopping 25-12, tying the score at 1-all.
However, UST got a little complacent in the third set, giving Adamson a 12-16 cushion courtesy of League Best Scorer Angela Benting’s attacks everywhere in the court. Once again, the Lady Spikers relied on Maizo’s kills and single blocks to escape with another set, 27-25. The Spikers eventually stumbled in the deciding set and allowed Adamson to blow up an 8-0 bubble due to the offensive disarray of the España-based crew. But the deadly combination of Maizo’s near-perfect blocking of the Adamson attackers and rookie Maruja Banaticla’s unrelenting attacks sealed the deal for the defending champions.
Maizo and Banaticla led the scoring for UST with 16 points each, while Benting led Adamson with 21 points.
All the way
That game, however, was very different from the Lady Spikers previous match, where a distracted UST squad hardly escaped the Lady Falcons, 25-15, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21, in game one of their best-of-three finals series last November 29.
Consistent blocking lifted the Lady Spikers to a win, giving them a one-game advantage over Adamson.
The Lady Spikers also swept the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in the game two of the best-of-three semifinals series, recovering from a second set loss, 25-22, 21-25, 25-11, 25-17, last November 27.It was preceded by a dominating straight-set victory, 25-20, 25-22, 25-20, last November 24.
In the quarterfinals, UST succumbed to the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles, 11-25, 18-25, 25-17, 25-19, 11-15. But they were unstoppable in defeating the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws, 25-17, 16-25, 25-19, 25-22, last November 17; College of St. Benilde Lady Blazers, 25-13, 25-16, 26-24, last November 15; and Adamson, 14-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-20 last November 13. However, they surrendered to the San Sebastian College – Recoletos (SSC-R) Lady Stags, 23-25, 25-23, 24-26, 22-25, at the start of the quarterfinals last November 10.
Meanwhile, UST swept the eliminations with dominating performances over the SSC-R, 25-11, 25-10, 25-15, last November 6; Benilde, 25-14, 25-17, 25-17, last November 3; Ateneo, 25-23, 27-25, 19-25, 25-20, last October 20; University of the Philippines Lady Maroons, 25-15, 25-19, 25-15, last October 18; Lyceum of the Philippines University Lady Pirates, 25-20, 25-21, 25-19, last October 16; FEU, 17-25, 28-26, 25-22, 25-17, last October 13; and Adamson, 25-18, 17-25, 25-17, 25-16, last October 11. With reports from and Alexis Ailex C. Villamor, Jr.
