MANILA, Philippines—Confident as they can be, the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses grounded the Adamson University Lady Falcons 3-1, 25-19, 25-16, 23-25, 25-15, to start their second round campaign in the UAAP Season 77 Volleyball Tournament at the Arena in San Juan Saturday evening.
UST still looks on that glimmer of Final Four as they notched a 3-5 record, tying with Adamson for fifth place.
Continuing her renaissance, Carmela Tunay teamed up with Marivic Meneses to deny Marlene Cortel that gave UST the victory.
Golden Tigresses head coach Odjie Mamon said his team was finally knowing their roles and, in doing so, gelling together as a unit.
“They know their roles, especially the veterans, because not everyone can score in high numbers,” Mamon said. “When you’re not the main scorer, you have to contribute on the areas where you’re good at.”
He added that before the start of the second round they had to look for other venues outside UST as the campus was preparing for the visit of Pope Francis.
The team had to practice at nearby Lyceum of the Philippines University and at Arena in San Juan to as far as the Meralco Gym in Pasig City, he said.
“We almost went to Batangas just to practice,” Mamon said, jokingly.
Dropping only the third set in a close contest, the Golden Tigresses found their groove back with the aid of consecutive errors from the Lady Falcons to get the matchpoint, 24-13.
Mamon said that the second round would be the start of their comeback, putting the teams that defeated them between their crosshairs.
“This is the start. I pray that we avenge our losses,” Mamon said. “We will do better in training.”
Scoring was aplenty for UST as the offensive quartet of EJ Laure, team captain Pam Lastimosa, Meneses and Tunay combined for 61 points.
Laure finished with 19, Lastimosa had 16, Meneses with 14 and Tunay added 12.
Amanda Villanueva and Mylene Paat led Adamson with 14 and 12 points respectively.