La Salle dealt UP its second loss of the season

University of the Philippines faced back-to-back losses in the UAAP Season 87 Women’s Volleyball Tournament, after falling short against De La Salle University in four sets, 22-25, 26-24, 18-25, and 17-25, on Sunday, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. 

UP now holds a 2-2 win-loss record, tied with the Adamson Lady Falcons, DLSU Lady Spikers and FEU Lady Tamaraws.  They opened the season with back to back wins against UE and FEU, but was recently defeated in straight sets by the Blue Eagles last Sunday.

After sweeping the Lady Spikers during the elimination round of UAAP Season 81 in 2019, the team has yet to win a match against the green and white. 

The Fighting Maroons kept it close in the first set, scoring 22 points from 14 attacks, 3 kill blocks and 2 service aces, while taking advantage of La Salle’s 6 errors, but the Lady Spikers eventually won the set after a backrow kill from Shevana Laput.

During the 2nd set, the Lady Spikers arrived at set point first, but veteran spiker Irah Jaboneta saved a set point with a powerful kill, targeting La Salle’s libero. The Fighting Maroons eventually won the second set, as DLSU had back to back attack errors from Angel Canino and Alleiah Malaluan.

The Diliman volleybelles had a rousing 4-0 start during the third set, prompting La Salle to do multiple substitutions during that set. However, the Lady Spikers staged a block party, limiting UP to score only 18 points in that set.

The game went neck and neck during the 4th set, up until the 2nd technical timeout, where La Salle only led by a single point. However, the Lady Spikers accelerated towards the end, staging a 9-2 run to win the match.

Team captain Canino was the player of the game, carrying the offense of the Lady Spikers with 24 points, all from attacks. Meanwhile, opposite hitter Laput contributed 21 points.

The spiker duo of Irah Jaboneta and Joan Monares were the top scorers for the Fighting Maroons, scoring 15 and 11 points respectively.  Rookie middle blocker Bienne Bansil led the team in the blocking department, tallying 3 kill blocks.

The UP Fighting Maroons will try to snap their two-game skid and in turn, the winning streak of last year’s runners up, the UST Golden Tigresses, when they face each other at 4:00 PM on Wednesday at the Mall of Asia Arena.  On the other hand, the DLSU Lady Spikers will have a week to prepare against their next foe, the still winless UE Lady Warriors. Their match is slated on Saturday, 1:00 PM, at the same venue.