The UST Golden Spikers absorbed their second straight loss, falling to the Colegio de San Juan de Letran Knights, 26-24, 22-25, 25-16, 25-23, in the 2026 V-League Collegiate Challenge on Sunday, Aug. 16, at Gameville Central Park.
UST committed 38 errors, 17 more than Letran’s 21.
“‘Yon pa rin, usually ‘yong problema ‘yong errors. ‘Yong errors talaga ‘yong nagpatalo,” Dux Yambao told the Varsitarian. “Gano’n pa rin, as usual, lagi kong sinasabi, na mag-try mag-improve lang palagi.”
Kris Hernandez led UST with 17 points, while Trevor Valera added 13.
The Golden Spikers controlled the opening set, building a six-point cushion behind a Jan Macam block, 18-12. Letran answered with a 4-0 run to trim the deficit to one, 23-22, before Francis Santiagudo’s drop tied the set at 24-all. Back-to-back points from Letran then gave the Knights the opener, 26-24.
Both teams traded blows throughout the second set, but UST errors allowed Letran to take a 17-14 lead. The Golden Spikers quickly erased the deficit behind a De Vega cross to tie the set at 17-all.
Tied again at 21-all, UST seized momentum as a Hernandez service ace put the Golden Spikers at set point. Valera then finished the comeback to take the set, 25-22.
The Golden Spikers stumbled out of the third set, falling behind 10-3 after a Vince Himzon attack. UST trimmed the deficit to four, 12-8, by capitalizing on back-to-back Letran errors.
However, Letran maintained its momentum and held off UST’s attempts to mount another comeback, taking the third set, 25-16.
UST started strongly in the fourth set, but Letran battled back to tie it at 10-all before capitalizing on a UST error to take a 16-12 lead.
Consecutive attacks from Dione Villacrusis and Hernandez, followed by a De Vega block, pulled UST within one, 18-17. Letran then took advantage of Yambao’s service error to extend its lead to 22-19.
UST mounted a late push behind a block from Al-Bukharie Sali to make it 24-23, but Himzon answered with a cross to close the match, 25-23.
Dave Lardizabal paced Letran with 16 points, while Maximuz Lopez added 14.
