The Lady Spikers solidified their bid to keep their Shakey’s V-League title by trouncing the Southwestern University (SWU) Lady Cobras, 25-12, 25-18, 25-20, during their match at The Arena in San Juan last April 15.
The victory tied UST with the San Sebastian College-Recoletos Lady Stags with identical 2-0 win-loss cards at the top of the tournament’s Bracket A.
“Their performance was okay although not as good as I expected, but I was satisfied. It just so happened that some players got off their rhythm,” coach Cesael de los Santos said.
Not even SWU guest player Lasungnern Piyatida, a Thai national team heavyweight, could find a remedy for the Lady Cobras’ porous defense, underscored by reception errors and free balls.
In the opening set, the España-based squad capitalized on the attacking errors of the Lady Cobras to spark an early 6-0 run for an 8-2 score.
SWU retaliated with sporadic attacks but another 6-0 blast courtesy of Aiza Maizo’s blocking prowess gave UST the set, 25-12.
In the succeeding plays, Angeli Tabaquero led the offense with her off-the-block hits for a 4-0 streak, 12-9, in the early minutes of the second set.
A couple of mini-runs allowed UST to pull away before another service ace from Santiago, backed by Maizo’s off-the-block, left the Lady Cobras dwindling, 25-18.
A slow start for US in the third frame gave SWU a fighting chance with down-the-line hits of guest player Erika Verano, amplified by the Lady Spikers’ miscues on the attacking end.
Unforced errors in the latter part of the match allowed SWU to crawl inch by inch but the nearest they could get was four points away before an attack error officially handed the victory to UST, 25-20.
Maizo led the scoring department with 18 points for UST while Tabaquero and Santiago combined for 25 points. Piyatida chipped in 12 points for SWU.
An imposing triumph
In their previous game, the Lady Spikers crushed the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws, 25-9, 25-13, 25-13, to jumpstart their V-League campaign on a high note last April 11.
De los Santos fielded his usual UAAP starters and utilized guest player and UST alumna Mary Jean Balse only in the latter part of the second set, easily trouncing FEU despite the Tamaraws having two guest players on the floor.
UST opened the game with a 16-0 run in the first set courtesy of Maizo’s attacks on FEU’s poor defense. Maizo topscored for UST with 17 points while Monique Tiangco led FEU with six markers.
