BY ABBY TORALBA
JONNA Perdido and the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses stunned reigning champions La Salle Lady Spikers 25-18, 25-23, 14-25, 16-25, 15-12 yesterday in the 86th UAAP women’s volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
The Golden Tigresses, slaying both La Salle and last season’s bridesmaid National University early in the first-round eliminations, extended their winning streak to three in front of a crowd of 12, 240.
Perdido exploded with a team-high 24 points along with five excellent receptions, rookie Poyos scored 22 with five digs, while Mary Anne Banagua added 11 as UST rose to 3-0.
“Wala nang madaling panalo ngayon. Lahat pinaghihirapan talaga especially kaharap mo iyong defending champions. So, doon naman sa team ng UST talagang iyong motivation nila sobra-sobra pero nung dumating ng third and fourth (set) biglang na-low battery,” UST coach Kungfu Reyes said.
“Again, we’re happy kasi nanalo noong fifth set talagang hindi bumitaw kasi nga ang layo ng score noong fifth set–actually, ang hinihiling lang namin sa kanila huwag tumigil, lumaban lang kung ano iyong nasa harapan namin,” he added.
Earlier, Far Eastern University overcame Casiey Dongallo’s explosion for University of the East, hacking out a 22-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-27, 15-11 win.
Rookie Dongallo willed the Lady Warriors to the decider after scoring five straight UE points to turn a 22-23 deficit into a 27-25 win in the fourth.
The Lady Warriors, however, shot themselves on the foot in the fifth set by committing four consecutive errors while Chen Tagaod emerged for FEU for the early 7-2 lead before fending off UE’s late rally for the victory.
Through the efforts of Dongallo and Riza Nogales, UE was able to inch within a point 11-12 but Faida Bakanke and Tagaod connived for three straight Lady Tamaraws points to end the game in two hours and 19 minutes.
“Naging hard iyong game gawa ng both teams galing sa talo, gustong parehong bumawi kaya ayun naging maganda iyong laban, mataas iyong emosyon,” FEU tactician Manolo Refugia said.
Sophomore open spiker Angel Canino fired 28 points and eight digs for the Lady Spikers, while Thea Gagate and Amie Provido had 11 markers each.
Alleiah Malaluan and Baby Jyne Soreno combined for 20 points La Salle, which slipped to 2-1.
