Laure, Rondina power Tigresses over Lady Bulldogs

MANILA, Philippines – The UST Golden Tigresses booked their fourth win of the 81st UAAP women’s volleyball season after outplaying the NU Lady Bulldogs in four sets, 26-24, 25-16, 23-25, 25-17, at the FilOil Flying V Centre on Saturday.

Eya Laure and Sisi Rondina led the charge for the Tigresses, scoring 20 and 16 points, respectively.

UST now sports a 4-2 record, tied with DLSU.

Meanwhile, the rookie-laden NU squad drops to 1-4.

UST started strong from the get-go, uncorking a 5-0 run to begin the match.

But the young Lady Bulldogs were unfazed and chipped at the lead. The squads eventually found themselves at an 11-all deadlock.

From there, it was a back-and-forth affair, with neither squad pulling away.

Relying on Ivy Lacsina’s offense and unfortunate errors on the side of UST, the Lady Bulldogs found themselves at set point, 24-21.

But the Golden Tigresses didn't plan to waste their strong start, going on a 6-0 tear to steal the opening set, 26-24.

By the second set, it was a more lopsided affair in favor of the Tigresses.

Despite NU playing at pace in to open the set, momentum seemed to be on the side of their opponents.

UST held a seven-point cushion, 20-13.

The Lady Bulldogs were able to salvage three straight points to trim the lead, 16-20. But Laure quickly took the reins for UST to take the 2-0 advantage, 25-16.

Determined to keep themselves afloat, the Lady Bulldogs were the ones to start strong in the third set.

The Golden Tigresses were left to play catch-up for most of the third.

NU, for its part, held on to a seven-point lead, 19-12.

The Lady Bulldogs seemed poised to take the third canto and extend the match, but Laure once again found her rhythm on offense to erase the deficit as the Tigresses took the lead from the Lady Bulldogs, 23-21.

But an unfortunate error and three straight points from NU rookie Cess Robles stunned the Espana-based spikers. NU eventually stayed alive, 25-23.

Careful not to let the Lady Bulldogs force a fifth set, the Tigresses worked to close things out in the fourth.

The teams were neck-and-neck to start the set, trading points until a deadlock at 6-all

But a4-0 run courtesy of errors from the Lady Bulldogs enabled the Tigresses to pull away.

The Golden Tigresses doubled up on NU, 20-10 — a deficit too big for NU to overcome as they eventually dropped the match, 17-25.

Errors proved to be NU's downfall as they recorded a total of 38 while UST only had 26.

Robles and Lacsina led the offense for the Lady Bulldogs with 14 points each.

UST hopes to end the first round on a winning note when they go against the struggling UE Lady Warriors next Sunday, March 17.