LA SALLE dealt arch rival Ateneo a proper straight-sets beating, 25-12, 25-12, 25-18, in the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Thea Gagate ran the show for the Lady Spikers with 16 points on 11 attacks and a game-high five blocks.
The defending champions stretched their longstanding win streak over Ateneo to 14 since Game One of the Season 79 Finals in 2017, which they won in four sets.
READ: UST Tigresses dominate UE, stake claim on twice-to-beat spot
Moving forward, the winner in La Salle’s prelims finale against fellow title contender University of Sto. Tomas will earn one of two twice-to-beat incentives in the Final Four.
Should current league-leader National University win over co-semifinalist Far Eastern University, the Lady Bulldogs will lock in the top seed and set up a potential semis matchup with the Lady Tamaraws.
"Pinag-ttiyagaan lang namin ('yung bawat laro) at nagfo-focus lang kami sa bawat laro kasi 'di naman basta-bastang makukuha 'yung (twice-to-beat) spot so kailangan talagang tiyagain, one game at a time. Ngayon na tapos na Ateneo, magfo-focus pa kami sa next game namin, which is UST," said Gagate.
"I'm proud of my teammates because if you look at the stats here, you can see that everyone did something. I'm just glad that we're working together as a team and going into this last game as well as the finals," added Shevana Laput who had 15 markers built on 12 attacks and three blocks.
"I'm really glad to see how we're performing and we're very excited to show everybody that we're the Lady Spikers and this is how we play."
The Taft side kept it clean with just 12 errors in the one-hour, 21-minute contest, aided by 17 excellent sets from setter-captain Julia Coronel and seven points and seven digs from Em Provido.
On the flip side, the Blue Eagles were troubled scoring-wise by a pair of team-best six-point outings from Lyann de Guzman and Zel Tsunashima as libero-captain Roma Doromal's solid defensive stand with 11 digs and 11 receptions also fell short.
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