MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) — The UST Golden Tigresses swept the still winless UE Lady Warriors, 25-17, 25-23, 25-16, to open the second round of eliminations in the UAAP Season 78 women's volleyball tournament on Saturday, March 5 at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
The Tigresses won back-to-back and improved their record to 4-4 while the Lady Warriors stretched their losing streak to 53 games dating back to Season 74.
"Cloud 9, anong karapatan nating pumunta sa cloud 9 tignan mo standing natin (What right do we have to be in cloud 9, look at our standing)," rued head coach KungFu Reyes, whose squad played lethargic volleyball despite coming off an inspired straight-set upset of title contenders DLSU Lady Spikers to end the first round.
"Nanalo tayo isang laro pero nasa bottom 3 pa rin (We won one game but we're still at the bottom 3)."
EJ Laure had a game-high 15 points off of 14 kills and a block while Cherry Rondina, the league's scoring leader after the first round, had 12 points.
Jessey De Leon and Marivic Meneses had 6 points apiece as Mela Tunay added 5 markers.
Shaya Adorador had 7 attacks, a block and a service ace to make up her 9 points for UE. Judith Abil and Celine Domingo added 7 and 5 points, respectively.
Despite the team's low energy, UST still raced to a 9-2 lead in the opening set. UE rallied to within 3 points after consecutive defensive lapses on the UST side before the more experienced Tigresses pulled away.
The Lady Warriors, starving for a win, had better energy in the second frame and led 8-4 early. The España-based Tigresses played catch-up until they tied it at 17 and Laure gave them the lead.
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A Cherry Rondina error kept the door open for UE at 23-all before Laure scored anew and an error gave set point to UST.
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UST was back in full control in the final set with another strong start as they cruised to the victory.
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— Rappler.com