UNIVERSITY of Sto. Tomas dodged a five-set meltdown to outlast defending champion La Salle, 25-18, 25-23, 14-25, 16-25, 15-12 in the UAAP Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Perdido fired a career-high 24 points on 21 attacks and three blocks to keep the Tigresses atop the league table as the last unbeaten team three games into the season.
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And just like last year, UST has dealt La Salle its first defeat in the elimination round.
“Talagang pinaghandaan namin [itong laro versus La Salle]. Sabi nga namin na labanan talaga ‘to ng kung sinong [mas gustong] manalo at mas gusto naming manalo this time,” said UST skipper Detdet Pepito who posted 18 receptions and 12 digs in the win.
The opening two sets saw Perdido & Co. send shockwaves to the Taft towers with a one-sided first-set win and a late comeback from 16-20 down in Set 2, further enabled by La Salle's error-plagued start (14 of 28 unforced errors in the first two sets).
Spirited a comeback it might've been for the Angel Canino-led Lady Spikers in Sets 3 and 4, who tied her career-high with 28 markers, the Lady Spikers failed to steer its reverse sweep bid to completion from 7-3 up as UST landed the game's last six points en route to victory after almost three hours of play.
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