Lady Archers survive gritty Tigresses in UAAP volley

MANILA, Philippines — La Salle survived a tough stand from Santo Tomas and foiled the 28-point explosion of Sisi Rondina to score a hard-earned 25-20, 17-25, 25-22, 15-25, 15-8 victory and get its three-peat bid in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tourney off and running last night at the MOA Arena.

The Lady Spikers recovered from a fourth-set breakdown and outlasted the pesky Tigresses towards the finish to avoid the opening-day blushes.

“We really expected a tough time against them,” La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus said after the close call. “There’s still a lot of adjustments to make especially with one of our starters Kim Dy nursing a hyperextended knee injury. But overall, I’ll give the team a passing mark. They showed their character in the fifth set.”

After failing to close it out in the fourth, the Lady Spikers stormed to a 5-0 headstart in the decider. UST battled to within 10-8 before gifting DLSU with three straight points off unforced errors. Tin Tiamzon put DLSU on the hill with a hit then the Lady Spikers clinched it with a block.

Major Baron punched in 19 off 12 attacks, five blocks and two aces while Des Cheng added 12 points and top libero Dawn Macandili had a whopping 35 excellent digs in the win.

Rondina, who had 25 spikes and two aces, was backed up by towering Fil-Italian Milena Alessandrini, who debuted with 14 hits and four blocks.

Another favorite, National U, picked up an expected W in Day One via a 25-15, 23-25, 16-25, 25-13 disposal of Adamson.

Skipper Jaja Santiago dropped 11 spikes, four blocks and one ace as the Lady Bulldogs made up for a lethargic third set with a strong finishing kick in the fourth to hand coach Babes Castillo his first win at the helm.

“We wanted to produce in the third set but you can see that the players’ energy somehow fading. We have to work on our conditioning,” said Castillo, who took over from Roger Gorayeb after a triumphant stint in the juniors’ ranks.