LA SALLE had just enough left in the tank to outlast National University in five hard-fought sets, 15-25, 25-19, 18-25, 25-19, 15-12, in the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Em Provido’s defensive prowess fueled the Lady Spikers to five straight head-to-head wins over NU - and six in succession this season. She finished with 14 points on nine attacks and a game-high five blocks.
Round 1 ends with La Salle holding on to a 6-1 (win-loss) record as NU drops to 5-2.
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Just like in both games of the Season 85 Finals, NU and La Salle went all the way to five sets. And just like their last two meetings, the Taft Towers still had the last laugh.
"We’re very happy with the result pero 'yun nga, very close 'yung fight namin sa NU at parang mas marami pa kaming kailangan matutunan sa five sets na nanalo kami.
"Marami pa kaming kailangan i-iimprove inside kasi 'di talaga madaling kalaban ngayon lahat ng mga kalaban namin lalo na sila (NU) and kailangan talaga namin sila harapin 'di lang ng may puso, 'di lang ng may pride, kundi tapatan ng kung anong mga skills na kulang pa namin," said Canino.
It was run after run across the first four frames as NU mounted a 9-3 run led by Alyssa Solomon (21 points) and Bella Belen (20 points) to end Set 1 and La Salle responding with a 7-3 spree to secure Set 2.
The tug-of-war between the champion sides carried over in the next two sets -- but the scoring eruptions took place at the start of both frames than in the end as the Lady Bulldogs went off to an 11-2 charge in Set 3 followed by a 9-0 blast to begin Set 4.
But in the end, Shevana Laput's game-high 20 points and Angel Canino's 17 markers did the damage scoring-wise in the all-important breaks of the fifth-set tiebreak as La Salle finished off its title rival -- and its first round campaign -- in style.
With NU ruling the numbers game in almost every statistical department, including 68 attacks to La Salle's 30 and 53 digs to 29, blocking proved to be the Lady Spikers' bread and butter with 13 net rejections in the two-hour, 31-minute contest.
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