NOT a lot of matchups have been as closely contested than the modern-day rivalry between Taft and España in UAAP women’s volleyball.
READ UAAP 87 F4 PREVIEW: What trick does FEU have up its sleeve this time vs. NU
UST might’ve won four in a row over La Salle since 2023 — all being five-setters — but the latter snatched two pivotal wins right back against the former to close out the Season 87 elimination round.
# 2 La Salle vs. # 3 UST
- GAME 1: May 3 (Saturday), 6 p.m. - Smart Araneta Coliseum
- GAME 2 (if necessary): May 7 (Wednesday) - TBC
We’ve seen this story unravel time and time again over the last few seasons. How will it end this time?
Whole lot of history
Dating back to Season 81 in 2019, the Lady Spikers’ unrivaled 10-year streak of reaching the finals got knocked out through a 1-2 punch of crucial Golden Tigresses wins.
The MVP-RoY duo of Sisi Rondina and Eya Laure threw UST's first solid punch in the second seed playoff that season to equip themselves with the twice-to-beat bonus against La Salle.
They then didn't need to max out that incentive, as the Golden Tigresses ran past the Lady Spikers to dethrone collegiate volleyball’s perennial powerhouse — albeit not enough for the Kungfu Reyes-led unit to win the crown against Ateneo.
Fast forward to the post-pandemic seasons, the tug-of-war between the two storied programs kept swinging back-and-forth.
UST and La Salle split their elimination round matches in three of the last four seasons.
In Season 85, for instance, the twice-to-beat Lady Spikers played spoiler to Laure’s last year with the black-and-gold after booting our the Golden Tigresses from title contention with a four-set Final Four win.
A year later in Season 86, UST completed a hat-trick of wins from the elimination round to the Final Four to gain a measure of revenge that sent La Salle packing.
As tight as can be
With España the reigning finalist and Taft the finals-seeking side this time around, both schools made sure to throw everything they had in all three of their Season 87 battles to date.
Both of their elimination round matches were decided in five sets and were only separated by two points in the tiebreak.
La Salle vs. UST in elims
- Round 1: UST def. La Salle (5 sets); 25-12, 22-25, 13-25, 25-23, 15-13.
- Round 2: La Salle def. UST (5 sets); 15-25, 25-17, 24-26, 25-20, 16-14.
- Playoff for No. 2: La Salle def. UST (5 sets); 23-25, 25-20, 30-28, 29-27.
The first time around, it was the league’s reigning top rookie in Angge Poyos who proved to be the difference with 28 points, 16 digs, and six receptions to complete the comeback from two sets down.
Even their non-scoring aces helped propel UST to victory, as libero-slash-captain Detdet Pepito dished out 24 digs and 16 receptions, while Cassie Carballo pitched in 22 excellent sets.
In their second-round grudge match, it was La Salle’s turn to orchestrate a fightback from two sets down behind a herculean 27-point, 13-dig, 13-reception triple-double from Angel Canino.
Just like the first round, the non-scoring weapons stole the show, as Lyka de Leon tallied 23 receptions and nine digs along with rookie setter Mikole Reyes’ 26 excellent sets.
Both teams finished prelims play with identical 9-5 records.
And when the stakes were at their highest with the No. 2 seed on the line, Ramil de Jesus’ 12-time champion squad showed grace under pressure after eking out a closely-contested four-set win in the second seed playoff to grab the twice-to-beat advantage.
Powering that win was a season-high 20-block output from the Lady Spikers led by Amie Provido’s five.
Also worth noting is how the last three Final Four meetings between these two schools were won by the higher-seeded team that had the twice-to-beat bonus in just one game.
Numbers colored green
Of the six statistical departments, the Lady Spikers lead the way in receptions and are ranked second in four other areas.
La Salle came in second at the end of elims in spiking (33.68 percent success rate), blocking (2.33 blocks per set), serving (1.56 aces per set). and setting (5.36 excellent sets per set).
Lower down the order, however, is in the digging department where they are ranked second to last (9.85 digs per set).
For her part, captain Canino rose to fourth in spiking (35.78 percent), seventh in receiving (41.64 percent), and ninth in blocking (0.45 blocks).
Meanwhile, junior winger Shevana Laput emerged as the league’s second best spiker (37.43 percent), second best server (0.40 aces), and fifth best blocker (0.51 blocks per set).
A handful of standouts are also present across the board for the green-and-white in league-leading receiver (47.31 percent) and fourth-best digger de Leon (2.84 digs), fourth-best setter Reyes (4.29 excellent sets), and fourth-best blocker Provido (0.53 blocks).
As far as the numbers go, UST is at the middle of the pack in almost every department.
The Golden Tigresses are ranked third in setting (5.30 excellent sets), fourth in blocking (2.19 blocks) and digging (11.49 digs), fifth in spiking (30.92 percent) and receiving (31.38 percent), and sixth in serving (1.09 aces).
They do have the luxury of two of the league’s most prolific spikers in fifth-ranked Reg Jurado (35.61 percent) and 10nth-ranked Poyos (32.89 percent) — also eighth in serving (0.23 aces).
Also leading the black-and-gold front are reigning best setter Carballo (second at 4.89 sets) and best libero Pepito who finished second in digging (3.96 digs) and fourth in receiving (42.38 percent).
For a time, it was green. Then, it became gold.
Come Saturday’s end, what will be the shining color of this scintillating modern-day rivalry be?
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