MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The La Salle Lady Spikers returned to the win column after absorbing back-to-back shock losses in the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament. 

The reigning champions swept University of the East (UE), 25-18, 25-20, 25-18, to claim solo 3rd place with a 4-2 record on Saturday, March 9, at the Filoil Flying V Centre. 

With Desiree Cheng sidelined to rest her injured shoulder, Jolina dela Cruz led the Lady Spikers with 14 points off 9 spikes, 3 aces and 2 aces.

Tin Tiamzon stepped up to deliver 10 points in her first ever start of the season.

Tiamzon shared that the whole team will use their bounce-back win to spark a new momentum into the season.

“Alam namin lahat na lahat kami may pagkukulang sa game na iyon (versus UST). The next day, sabi ni coach, kalimutan na ang lahat. Focus tayo sa game na ito against UE so start tayo from there,” said Tiamzon.

(We all know that we each had our own shortcomings against UST. The next day, coach said that we should forget about everything. We should focus on our game against UE and start from there.)

Judith Abil and Zilfa Olarve tallied 8 points apiece to lead the Lady Warriors while Kath Arado covered the floor with 21 excellent digs and 10 excellent receptions.

After taking control of the opening frame, La Salle fell behind against the cellar-dwelling UE, 6-1, at the start of the 2nd set. 

The Lady Spikers managed to tie the score at 18-all before pulling away with a 7-2 run to finally nail a 2-0 match advantage. 

La Salle trailed at the start of the 3rd set but another massive run midway through the frame overturned the early deficit to grab a 16-12 in lead the second technical timeout.

But it wasn’t over for the Lady Spikers as the Lady Warriors got within one point, 17-18. A crucial net touch by Zilfa Olarve, though, shifted the momentum to La Salle as May Luna scored  3 aces in the 7-1 closeout.

 UE fell to 1-5. – Rappler.com