UST LADY TIGRESSES CONTINUE WINNING-STREAK; TAKE GAME 1 OF THE FINALS
By Ardyn Gonzales
8 October 2016
The women’s and men’s team of UST remain undefeated this season and have yet to drop a set as they swept FEU in both divisions today in Game 1 of the best-of-three Finals series, 21-17, 21-9 and 21-13, 21-11 respectively, under the scorching heat of the sun at MOA Sands by the Bay in Pasay City.
The UST Tigresses started slow as FEU was able to accumulate a four-point lead, 5-1, which forced Cherry Rondina and Jem Gutierrez to call for an early timeout. Alongside a couple of unforced errors from the Lady Tams, UST just took it one point at a time and snatched the lead at 10-11.
With Gutierrez struggling in her offense, Season 77 beach volley MVP Rondina showed resilience and led the way to get the set, 21-17.
Rondina started the second set with an explosive attack, followed by her own version of well-placed shots exposing the faulty floor defense of FEU, to grab the lead, 11-5. Pons and Atienza attempted to retaliate but UST never looked back and kept the score of FEU to a single digit, 21-9.
Meanwhile, the UST Tiger Spikers downed FEU’s Jude Garcia and Jeremiah Barrica in men’s division, making them one step closer to claiming the championship which they almost got last season.
UST Lady Tigresses and Tiger Spikers booked automatic finals berth after sweeping the elimination round. On the other hand, the FEU Lady Tams eliminated the defending champion La Salle earlier 21-15, 21-15 while the FEU Tamaraws valiantly defied a twice-to-beat disadvantage against UP, 22-20, 21-17 and 22-20, 17-21, 16-14, in the stepladder semi-finals.
The Game 2 of the Finals—and the Game 3 if needed—will start tomorrow at 09:00 in the morning, still at MOA Sands by the Bay.
Follow the writer on Twitter: [social link=”https://twitter.com/burnsports” icon=”62218″]
