By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE defending champions De La Salle Lady Spikers are back in the finals of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) after a straight-set win over the National University Lady Bulldogs in their Final Four encounter yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Despite holding a twice-to-beat advantage as the top seeds, the Lady Spikers found no need to use it as they showed their trademark big-game focus and go-getting mind-set to frustrate the Lady Bulldogs, 27-25, 25-22 and 25-11, to barge into their 10th straight UAAP finals in women’s volleyball.
The game got to a competitive start, marked by spurts and counter-spurts by both teams.
The Lady Bulldogs, teary-eyed right before the start of the contest, went to a quick start, taking the first technical timeout of the opening frame, 8-6, before extending their lead to 12-7 midway into the set.
La Salle though would claw its way back to within one point, 12-11, but Jaja Santiago And Co. stood their ground to continue to hold sway by the second break, 16-13.
A 5-2 run after allowed the Lady Spikers to level the count at 18-all.
The two teams continued to battle as the first set hit the homestretch, fighting to a 23-all score.
Santiago pushed NU to set point but the team could not capitalize on that, allowing La Salle to get its bearing to pull the rug from under the Lady Bulldogs, punctuated by a service ace from Desiree Cheng.
La Salle raced to an 8-5 lead to start the second set only to be tied on to at 8-all thereafter.
A tight back-and-forth ensued after but the Lady Spikers would do just enough to stay ahead by the second technical timeout, 16-14.
The Taft-based Lady Spikers threatened to blow the set wide open, establishing a 19-14 separation.
NU, however, would go on an 8-4 run to narrow the gap to one point, 23-22.
That was the closest it could get though to La Salle as the latter moved to finish the set with back-to-back points after.
In the third set, La Salle went for the jugular early, setting an 8-1 lead in the opening third of the frame.
It continued the pounding to extend its lead to 16-6 by the second technical knockout before completing the rout and oust NU.
Kim Kianna Dy led La Salle with 17 points with Tine Tiamzon adding 11.
Majoy Baron had nine and Cheng finished with eight points.
Graduating Santiago had 17 points in her final game for NU, which sputtered in the end of the season after a dominant start.
“Credit goes to the players. They really wanted this win and get back to the finals,” said La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus.
La Salle now faces the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws in the best-of-three finals beginning on April 28.
END OF THE LINE
Meanwhile, Ateneo Lady Eagles coach Tai Bundit and stalwart Jhoana Maraguinot revealed that Season 80 was their last with the Katipunan-based team.
With his contract having already expired, champion coach Bundit said he is moving on while at the same time expressing satisfaction over what they have accomplished for the women’s volleyball program of Ateneo with him as the coach for five years.
Mr. Bundit, who will still stay in the country as the coach of the Creamline Cool Smashers at the Premier Volleyball League, led the Lady Eagles to the Final Four in each of his season with the team, four times in the finals and UAAP titles in Seasons 76 and 77.
For her part, Maraguinot said the time had come for her to call it quits in the UAAP.
While she still has one year left of eligibility, the Batangas native said she is foregoing it and setting her sights on other challenges while at the same time looking at her collegiate career with fondness and appreciation.
“I still have one more year but I think I’m done. We fought till the end but we just could not complete it. We fell short but I think we were able to achieve what we set out to do this season,” said Maraguinot, who finished her Season 80 campaign with a 14.5-point average per game.
The campaign of Ateneo in Season 80 ended on Saturday after losing to FEU in four sets in their own Final Four pairing.
