V-League: UST hands Davao first loss

MANILA, Philippines—Flawless no more. 

Relying on its vaunted blocking all throughout the match, University of Santo Tomas sent guest team Davao crashing back to earth with a 23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-17 drubbing of the Lady Agilas in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 First Conference on Sunday, April 27 at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City. 

Mela Tunay sizzled with 20 points on the strength of 18 spikes while skipper Loren Lantin also came up big for the Golden Tigresses as she chipped in 19 hits on 16 attacks to deal the Davao selection its first defeat in the conference after winning its first three outings.

“First set was crucial, ‘yung call lang kasi 23-all ‘yung missed call,” said UST head coach Odjie Mamon. (First set was crucial, the call was crucial because it was tied at 23, it was a missed call.)

“We could have gotten it (the win) in three sets,” added Mamon.

Bouncing back and Block party                                                    

The Golden Tigresses recovered from a stinging loss in the opening set and vented its ire for the rest of the way as they went to Tunay and Pam Lastimosa—their dynamic duo, who buckled down to work to give the Golden Tigresses the win in the second frame, 25-22.

Both teams battled nip-and-tuck in the third before UST used a decisive 7-0 run from a 17-17 standoff to reach set point on Lastimosa’s attack, 24-17.

The Lady Agilas would score two more points before Lastimosa iced the set with her patented kill, 25-17.

The Gold and Black of España used their height advantage to the hilt, lording it over in the blocking department as they scored 13 points on blocks, with towering Ria Meneses accounting for 4 markers. Meneses finished with eight markers while setter Loren Lantin also had 33 excellent sets in the match. 

UST zoomed to an 18-10 cushion in the fourth set with Davao, with its once-deadly offense  but surprisingly in disarray in the match, committed a lot of errors that ultimately did them in the match. 

Jem Gutierrez shoved the Golden Tigresses into match point, 24-17 and a Davao attack that went long sealed the win for UST, who improved to 3-1 in the team standings.

Jocemer Tapic carried the fight for the Lady Agilas with her 17 points while May Agton had 16. Venus Flores and Princess Oliveros wounded up with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Scores

UST- Tunay 20, Lastimosa 19, Laure 9,Meneses 8, De Leon 6, Lantin 5, Cortez 3, Gutierrez 2

Davao- Tapic 17, Agton 16, Flores 12, Oliveros 11, Anipuesto 7, Raterta 2

By set: 23-25, 25-22, 25-19, 25-17

-Rappler.com