UST escapes NCAA champ Arellano for first quarterfinals win

MANILA, Philippines – University of Santo Tomas squeaked past NCAA champion Arellano University in a thrilling 5-setter, 25-21, 25-22, 19-25, 24-26, 15-12, for their first quarterfinals victory in the Shakey’s V-League 12 Collegiate Conference on Sunday, August 16, at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Rookie EJ Laure carried the scoring load for the Tigresses with 23 points she built on 20 attacks and a pair of service aces. The UAAP Season 77 Rookie of the Year was also responsible for key points down the stretch in the final set as UST outlasted the gritty Arellano.

Team captain Pam Lastimosa paced the Tigresses with 18 points including 14 kills and 3 rejections, while Chloe Cortez and Marivic Meneses added 14 and 10 markers, respectively.

UST weathered Arellano’s spirited comeback attempt despite still missing the services of veteran Carmela Tunay, who is still out with a fractured nose.

Guest player Mina Aganon showed up with 23 points for the Lady Chiefs while Cristine Joy Rosario contributed 6 blocks and a total of 15 markers.

Danna Henson finished with 11 while previous topscorer Menchie Tubiera settled for 10 as Arellano played catch-up for the entire contest.

The Lady Chiefs came back from two sets down to force a decider, and in the fifth set rallied from a 7-2 deficit to threaten the Tigresses once again.

It looked like UST was on its way to a comfortable win with a 12-8 advantage but Aganon exploded for 4 straight points to knot the tally. But that was the last the Lady Chiefs would score as Lastimosa broke the deadlock and Laure completed the win with two straight points.

The Tigresses now hold a 3-1 carry-over record while the Lady Chiefs are now 2-2.

Each of the 8 teams that advanced to quarters will carry over its win-loss record from the eliminations, except the record over teams that did not advance.

The quarterfinals will employ single round robin competition with the top 4 teams based on their win-loss slate moving on to the semifinals, where there will be another round robin to determine the finalists. – Rappler.com