LA Salle had to eke out arguably the hardest-earned win yet in all of UAAP Season 87 with a jaw-dropping 27-25 scoreline in Set 5 of its come-from-behind win over Ateneo in the men’s volleyball tournament.
The deciding frame on Wednesday at Araneta Coliseum becomes the longest set, hands down, that has been contested this season, either in men’s or women’s play.
The 36-minute fifth set sprint had everything from power hits to sorry errors that stretched an already-grueling contest even longer.
The Blue Eagles had the luxury of eight match points in the tiebreak, only to see it negated by a huge chunk of their 36 unforced through the match.
Ace winger Jian Salarzon gave Ateneo its last unconverted match point at 25-24.
But then came an unlikely hero for the Taft side in reserve spiker Yoyong Mendoza who fired two clutch kill hits to send them to match point, 26-25.
It would be middle blocker MJ Fortuna’s rejection on Salarzon that dealt the blue-and-white the finishing blow, as the Green Spikers closed out the match in two hours and 31 minutes.
The final score? 21-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-22, 27-25 in La Salle’s favor.
Birthday boy and MVP contender Noel Kampton posted a game-high 27 points and 12 receptions for the winning team.
League-leading scorer and MVP race leader Ken Batas gave it his all for the Blue Eagles with 26 points, 18 receptions and seven digs, only to fall flat right at the very end of an instant classic between the archrivals.
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