THE UST Junior Golden Tigresses fell short of a reverse sweep, losing to the top-seeded NUNS Lady Bullpups, 25-21, 25-10, 18-25, 16-25, 15-7, in their UAAP season 87 girls’ volleyball tournament eliminations closer at the Filoil EcoOil Centre on Wednesday, November 27.
UST ended the eliminations as the third seed with an 8-4 win-loss record, tying with the FEU-D Baby Tamaraws. Meanwhile, NU sits atop the standings, going into the Final Four with an 11-1 slate.
Rochelle Olaguir paced the Junior Golden Tigresses with 11 markers, followed by Reeza Abayon with nine and Jezrel Silvestre with eight.
Late into the opening frame, UST tried to chase NU with a service ace from Junior Golden Tigress Aneeza Santos, 23-21, but two consecutive blocks from Lady Bullpups Denesse Daylisan and Jenelyn Jacob sealed the set for NU, 25-21.
The Lady Bullpups decimated UST tonstart the second salvo, 13-6. Despite Junior Golden Tigress Avril Bron’s attempt to stop the bleeding with back-to-back blocks, 15-9, NUNS limited UST to just one more point before cruising to the win courtesy of Daylisan’s block, 25-10.
With NUNS a set away from a sweep, the Junior Golden Tigresses gained second wind late into the third canto, 19-16, before Bb Laag gave UST the momentum to close the set, capped by Abayon’s through-the-block kill, 25-18.
UST stayed hot in the fourth set, leading 19-12 after a clean cross-court hit by Olaguir. The Junior Golden Tigresses ended the set with a 1-2 play by Jezrel Silvestre, 25-16.
However, UST failed to pull off the reverse sweep, going down by three midway through the decider, 10-7, before Daylisan sparked the game-winning 5-0 spurt, with Rihanna Navarro’s ace securing the victory and the league-best record for NUNS, 15-7.
Daylisan led NUNS with 20 markers, while Harlyn Serneche and Diza Berayo contributed 17 and 16 points, respectively.
The UST Junior Golden Tigresses will face the FEU-D Baby Tamaraws in the Final Four at the Filoil EcoOil Arena on Saturday, Nov. 30.
