MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The University of Santo Tomas (UST) finished the first round with a share of second place with La Salle after demolishing the University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors, 25-18, 25-14, 25-20, in the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday, March 17, at the Filoil Flying V Centre. 

The Tigresses, who finished near-bottom at 7th place last season, proved they’re no longer pushovers as they head into the second round carrying a 5-2 slate – their best start under coach Emilio “Kung Fu” Reyes. 

And the turnaround clearly hinged on star rookie Eya Laure, who led with 15 points off 11 attacks, 2 blocks and 2 aces.

Sisi Rondina also unloaded 17 points to lead the Tigresses.

“Dati nagsisimula kami sa 0-3. Napakaganda ng naging development ng team namin ngayon,” said Reyes. “Ang pangit lang ay nabawasan kami ng isang tao (Milena Alessandrini to injury), pero with regards sa standing, malayong-malayo sa start ko sa UST. Sana ito na yung hinihintay namin.”

(Before, we started at 0-3. The team’s development is good now. What’s not good is that we lost one person, Milena Alessandrini to injury, but with regards to the standing, this is a big improvement from when I started with UST. I hope this is what we’re waiting for.)

Judith Abil was the lone bright spot for UE as she tallied 15 points off 13 attacks and 2 aces.

The Lady Warriors skidded to their fourth straight loss for a 1-6 card. 

UST was unstoppable from the get-go as the Golden Tigresses got off to a 9-2 start.  A slew of errors from the España-based squad allowed the Lady Warriors to close the gap to 10-13, but UST immediately pulled away to close out the opening frame. 

The Golden Tigresses remained in control in the second set as Sisi Rondina lifted the team to an 11-point lead, 23-12. Caitlin Viray nabbed set point and a service error from UE gifted UST the 2-0 lead in the match.

It was all UST again in the final frame before Rondina wrapped it up with a crosscourt kill. – Rappler.com