MANILA, Philippines — Perfection. Redemption. Vindication.
Before more than 22,000 fans, La Salle embraced it all with a 25-22, 25-16, 25-16 Game 2 domination of National U to complete a sweet 16-0 sweep of the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena.
It was a display of sheer dominance by the Lady Spikers right from the get go, not yielding a single set to end the Lady Bulldogs’ back-to-back reign after a 25-23, 25-18, 25-18 win in Game 1 of the best-of-three titular showdown.
It was the fourth finals clash in the last five seasons for the UAAP’s modern-day rivals.
La Salle only trailed once in the lopsided affair, 0-2 in the first set, and was on cruise control from there to avenge its bridesmaid finish to NU last season and equalize in their head-to-head duel after also ruling Season 85 for their 13th title in 21 finals appearances, all under the wizard Ramil de Jesus.
But the Lady Spikers – in tears and on their knees while hugging each other at centercourt as “Animo La Salle” chants blared up to the rafters of the Big Dome – hit a bevy of far nobler, bigger targets than that. It slayed the ghost of 2014 when they blew it away in the finals against Ateneo on the heels of a 14-0 elims sweep.
That stinging defeat denied La Salle a four-peat and ended its dynasty, leaving an unforgettable scar to De Jesus’ heart despite a slew of trophies he bagged and the stars he produced in the succeeding years after that infamous meltdown.
Never again, he said. And La Salle just did.
“Sobrang happy ako dito sa championship na ito kasi ito talaga ‘yung target namin na talagang makabalik sa finals pero ‘di ko rin in-expect na masi-sweep namin na 16-0,” said De Jesus.
In a string of ironies, La Salle toppled NU’s own queendom for a three-peat bid to preserve its stature as the last team to do it twice in the 2010s. The Lady Spikers also replicated the Lady Bulldogs’ 16-0 season sweep in Season 84 (2022) led by three-time MVP Bella Belen, whose presence at courtside hardly made a dent in La Salle’s relentless drive to reclaim lost glory.
But all’s not lost for NU, which completed a six-peat feat in the men’s division after a 26-24, 25-22, 25-22 sweep of the top-ranked Far Eastern U in Game 2 witnessed by more than 11,000 fans.
Meanwhile, Shaina Nitura of Adamson and Josh Ybañez of Santo Tomas were officially crowned as Women’s and Men’s Season 88 MVP, respectively.