De La Salle University emerged triumphant in the first five-set affair of UAAP Season 85 women's volleyball, outlasting University of Santo Tomas on Sunday afternoon at the Mall of Asia Arena.
The Lady Spikers benefited from a pair of unforced errors by the Golden Tigresses in the clutch, and came away with a hard-earned 25-20, 16-25, 25-8, 15-25, 16-14 victory.
UST stayed alive at 14-all when La Salle's Leila Cruz mistimed her jump while going for an over-passed ball. But the Tigresses faltered down the stretch, with Milena Alessandrini sending her next serve long to put the Lady Spikers at match point, and Eya Laure's attack in the next rally went wide.
La Salle got a superb debut from rookie star Angel Canino, who finished with 18 points on 16 kills, while veteran Jolina dela Cruz added 14 points and Cruz finished with 12 -- including five of La Salle's 11 blocks in the match.
"Sobrang intense talaga. Yung nangyari, breaks of the game eh, so, talagang kahit sino nalang duon. So ayun, sinwerte kami samin pumanig yung break," said Noel Orcullo, who is calling the shots for La Salle in lieu of Ramil de Jesus.
The Lady Spikers recovered from a slow start in the opening set that saw them trail 3-12, with Canino making the big plays down the stretch to tow them to a 1-0 lead. La Salle won 10 of the last 11 rallies and limited UST to just five attack points in the opener.
But the Tigresses rebounded in Set 2, with Laure firing the final two hits to tie the match as UST benefited from La Salle's nine unforced errors.
The Lady Spikers played nearly flawless volleyball in Set 3, committing just one error while limiting UST to just six kills. They raced off to an 8-0 start with Canino scoring from the back row and Mars Alba firing an ace, and never looked back.
The spikers from Taft were unable to ride the momentum in Set 4, however. Instead, the comebacking Alessandrini came alive for UST, and they also got good contributions from Imee Hernandez to dominate the frame and send the match to a decider.
La Salle took an early lead in the fifth set but big hits from Alessandrini and Laure brought the Tigresses back in the hunt. An attack error by dela Cruz tied the set at 6, and it was nip-and-tuck from there with neither team able to take control. A quick kill from the middle by Janna Torres gave UST its last lead at 13-12, prompting a timeout by La Salle.
Dela Cruz scored off the UST blockers to tie the set at 13, before a bad passing sequence by the Tigresses put the Lady Spikers at match point for the first time, 14-13. The Tigresses got a break when Cruz committed an unforced error in the next rally, but they fell prey to their miscues as well with Alessandrini and Laure gifting the last two points to the Lady Spikers.
UST skipper Laure had 19 points on 17 hits, while Alessandrini finished with 10 points. Rookie Regina Jurado added eight markers and Renee Penafiel scored six.
La Salle had a slim lead in attacks, 47-45, and both teams had seven aces while the Lady Spikers committed just three more errors, 35-32. But the net defense of the Taft-based spikers spelled the difference, as they tallied an 11-5 advantage in blocks.