UST team captain Eya Laure emerged as the best scorer in the first round of UAAP Season 84 after averaging 22.8 points per game (ppg) in the Tigresses’ first seven games.
Laure notched career-best single-game scoring numbers three times in the first round. She scored a career-high 28 points in UST’s loss against the UP Lady Maroons on May 10 and followed it with another 28-point performance in the Tigresses’ victory over the DLSU Lady Archers on May 12.
The Season 81 Rookie of the Year capped UST’s first-round campaign with a 31-point outburst against the Ateneo Blue Eagles on May 19 for a new career-high.
Laure’s 160 first-round points came from 143 spikes, 11 blocks and six service aces.
Ateneo’s Faith Nisperos and DLSU’s Alleiah Malaluan were second and third in the scoring column with 127 and 109 total first-round points, respectively.
Laure placed fourth in spiking with a 34.29-percent success rate in 417 total attempts.
UST libero Janel Delerio was the first round’s second-best receiver, recording a 48.69-percent efficiency rate in 100 receptions.
National University Lady Bulldog Jennifer Nierva was number one in efficiency with a 50-percent success rate in 78 receptions.
The Tigresses tallied a total of 207 errors across seven games for an average of 29.57 errors per game.
UST playmakers Maji Mangulabnan (3.04 excellent sets per frame) and Mafe Galanza (2.93 excellent sets per frame) were the sixth and seventh top setters, respectively,
Rookie Tigress Bernadett Pepito, a five-time UAAP girls’ best libero, is the fourth-best digger through the first round with 3.25 digs per set.
UST achieved a 5-2 win-loss record in the first round for second place. It holds the head-to-head tiebreaker over DLSU, which also went 5-2 for third place.
The NU Lady Bulldogs sit comfortably at the top of the board with an unblemished 7-0 record.
UST will begin its second-round journey against the Adamson Lady Falcons on Thursday, 10 a.m., at the Mall of Asia Arena. James Paul R. Gomez
