Tigresses rebound, rip Lady Patriots
University of Santo Tomas shook off a listless third set and re-asserted its might as it disposed of De La Salle-Dasmariñas, 25-13, 25-12, 23-25, 25-18, to get back into the thick of things in the Shakey’s V-League Season 12 Collegiate Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.
Pam Lastimosa unleashed an 17-hit game, including 11 kills and six aces, as the Tigresses bounced back from a four-set setback to the fancied Ateneo Lady Eagles last week to even their card at 1-1 in Group B of the two-division mid-season conference of the pioneering league sponsored by Shakey’s and presented by PLDT Home Ultera.
“We relaxed a bit in the third and failed to communicate. But coach told us that we have to work hard to win. And we did just that,” said Lastimosa.
Just when they thought they had the Lady Patriots’ number after storming to easy wins in the first two sets, the Tigressess found the going tough in the third, trailing by five-six points before Lastimosa sparked UST’s big fightback that tied the count twice, the last at 23.
But the Lady Patriots regained the lead on an EJ Laure service error then lived for another set on a Desiree Dadang block off Marivic Meneses.
The Tigresses, however, imposed their will in the next frame with Lastimosa combining with Jessey De Leon, Carmela Tunay and Laure, who delivered the match-clinching attack off two DLSU-Dasma defenders to close out the one-hour, 32-minute encounter.
Laure topscored for UST with 18 hits while Tunay had 16 markers and De Leon and Meneses combined for 14 points as the Tigresses overpowered the Lady Patriots, 45-24, off attacks, posted 12 blocks as against DLSU-Dasma’s eight and pounced on their rivals’ poor reception, coming through with 16 aces.
Cherry Nunag fired 11 hits and skipper Iumi Yongco added 10 markers but the duo failed to draw solid backup from the rest and the Lady Patriots fell to their second straight defeat.
Meanwhile, Ateneo and National U gun for win No. 2 in their respective groups in today’s continuation of the weekend-only mid-season conference organized by Sports Vision and backed by Mikasa and Accel.
The Lady Eagles battle the San Sebastian Lady Stags at 12:45 p.m. to be aired live over GMA News TV Channel 11 while the Lady Bulldogs seek a follow-up to their four-set win over the UP Lady Maroons against the University of Batangas side in a Group A clash at 3 p.m.