Dindin Santiago carries National U to V-League finals

MANILA, Philippines – University of Santo Tomas had the strong start, but National University got away with the finishing kill.

Dindin Santiago fired rockets all match long while Rubie De Leon scattered one excellent set after the other as the defending champions of the Shakey’s V-League First Conference ousted the Golden Tigresses in straight sets, 25-21, 25-22, 25-19 on Tuesday, May 13 at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

National U struggled in the early goings of each set but found ways to steal Game 2 of their semifinal duel using solid floor coverage and searing attacks which were never solved by the UST side.

Dindin Santiago scored 14 points on 11 attacks and 2 aces; her sister Jaja Santiago added 14 as well while setter and guest player Rubie De Leon delivered 23 excellent sets, most going to the Santiagos and Carmina Aganon, who finished with 12 markers.

The Lady Bulldogs, who played without Aiko Urdas, drew help from Rizza Mandapat who had 6 points in the win.

“Rizza has been showing a good performance even in practices. She finally got exposure since Urdas cannot play,” quipped NU head coach Ariel Dela Cruz on how Mandapat provided additional spark.

As a team, the Sampaloc spikers scored 42 hits compared to just 31 from the Golden Tigresses. They also punished UST with 11 block points and 8 from the service line. 

However, NU gave up 21 points on errors for the Espana crew, something Dela Cruz wants to solve entering the championship phase.

“We are the defending champions and we want to keep the crown. We want to play at an even higher level,” said Dela Cruz.

Pamela Lastimosa and Ennajie Laure led the Carmela Tunay-less Espana crew with 11 and 10 respectively.

NU will battle the winner of the Adamson-FEU semifinals pairing.

Scores 

National University – Santiago D. 14, Santiago J. 14, Aganon 12, Pablo o, Mandapat 6, De Leon 6.

University of Sto. Tomas – Lastimosa 11, Laure 10, Dimaculangan 6, De Leon 5, Meneses 5, Gutierrez 3, Cortez 1. 

Set scores: 25-21, 25-22, 25-19. 

– Rappler.com