UNIVERSITY of Santo Tomas coach Kungfu Reyes does not mind if his belles go through five-setters as long as the Golden Tigresses win.
UST charged back from two-sets down and stunned Adamson University yesterday, pulling off a 24-26, 20-25, 25-21, 25-23, 15-12 victory for its third straight win in the 84th UAAP women’s volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Eya Laure took charge for the Tigresses with a team-best 21 points built on 16 attacks, while Camille Victoria provided ample help with 16 markers.
Ysa Jimenez also had 13 points for UST, which scored a fitting follow-up to its 25-19, 25-21, 29-31, 33-31 triumph over defending champion Ateneo last May 19 and improved to 6-2 for second.
The Lady Falcons, coming off a 25-23, 25-20, 25-18 victory over University of the East also last May 19, slipped to 4-4.
In the second game, University of the Philippines humbled winless University of the East 25-23, 26-24, 25-17 to snap out of its funk.
Alyssa Bertolando led the Fighting Maroons with 14 points, while Niña Ytang chipped in 13 markers on 11 spikes.
Skipper Jewel Encarnacion also had 10 points as UP, which made up for a 25-23, 26-24, 25-17 defeat to National University eight days ago, halted a four-game losing skid and rose to 4-4.
The Lady Warriors fell to 0-8.
“Nakakapagod. We won the hard way, at least ang bottom line is a win is a win regardless of how many sets. Ang ano lang namin, ang learning namin is hindi kami bumibitaw,” Reyes said.
“Hindi natatapos ng dalawang sets pero talagang hands up ako sa Adamson talagang ang hirap kalaban, hindi ka puwedeng nagpapabaya otherwise kakainin ka nang buhay,” he added.
Trisha Genesis paced Adamson with 23 points, while Kate Santiago and May Ann Nuique added 18 and 16, respectively.
UST also beat the Lady 12-25, 25-19, 25-22, 18-25, 15-9 in their first-round duel last May 17.
“It has been a while. Like I said before, like any other team we struggle, we have to find our rhythm. We want to win, we want to win more games and that’s what we are doing,” Maroons tactician Godfrey Okumu said.
