MANILA, Philippines – The UST Golden Tigresses kept up their promising, yet rickety start in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament with a rollercoaster four-set win over the UE Lady Warriors, 28-26, 22-25, 25-23, 25-15, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre on Saturday, February 22.
Star spikers Reg Jurado and Angge Poyos shone bright in the win with 22 and 21 points, respectively, with the latter coming off a well-rounded line of 14 attacks, 4 blocks, and 3 aces.
Captain Detdet Pepito tallied 16 excellent digs and 14 excellent receptions, while Cassie Carballo tossed up 19 excellent sets as UST broke through in the win column with a 1-1 record.
Earning confidence from a huge first-set comeback from down 24-20, UST stayed the course in the latter parts of the match despite a second-frame setback, taking a 10-3 fourth-set lead before UE staged an earnest 7-1 comeback to get within a point, 11-10.
That, however, was the last gasp of power the retooling Lady Warriors could give, as the Tigresses roared right back with a game-sealing 8-2 surge that UE failed to recover from.
“A win is a win, We saw our lapses so we’ll work on removing them,” UST assistant coach Yani Fernandez said in Filipino.
“Again, we’ll focus on communication and connection. That’s the problem we had in our loss against FEU.”
Khy Cepada paced the Lady Warriors’ descent to a 0-2 slate with 20 points, followed by 12 from Van Bangayan and 11 from rookie Bea Zamudio.
Meanwhile, the UST men’s team bucked the absence of two-time reigning MVP Josh Ybañez in a 25-17, 25-18, 25-19 blowout of UE to break through with its first win.
Jan Julian Macam stepped up admirably in Ybañez’s void with a game-high 14 points, followed by 12 apiece from veteran winger Jay Rack de la Noche and middle blocker Paul Colinares.
Dux Yambao rounded out the offense with 16 excellent sets as the Golden Spikers seek new scoring options ahead of a two-week layoff for Ybañez, who was diagnosed with a Grade 2 ankle sprain.
Roy Piojo paced UE’s second loss with 13 points. – Rappler.com