UST claims solo third, dispenses FEU

MANILA, Philippines – Continuing their meteoric rise is the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses as they notched the third seed in the UAAP Season 77 Volleyball standings at the expense of arch nemesis Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws 3-0, 25-19, 25-21, 25-23, Sunday evening at the Arena in San Juan.

UST and FEU came into the match with identical 4-5 records but Carmela Tunay would not allow her team to drop down to fourth as her quick attack found an opening to end the match as the Tigresses reached the .500 mark with a 5-5 record.

Tigresses head coach Odjie Mamon said his team’s newfound swagger could be attributed to the players’ commitment on and off the playing field.

“We focused on the players, we straightened out their commitment especially to practice,” Mamon said as his team extended their win streak to four.

Aside from their four game win streak, the Golden Tigresses also notched a second consecutive game where they won by straight sets.

After trading scores starting from the 18-18 mark, UST fell behind 22-20 and a quick winner for the Golden Tigresses looked bleak.

EJ Laure and Carmela Tunay, however, rose to the challenge and made it 23-22 and a team error from FEU tied it up at 23-23.

End game gave way for the veteran Tigresses as team captain Pam Lastimosa tapped it home for the matchpoint, 24-23, and Tunay sealed it.

Mamon said that they are not done yet especially when La Salle and Ateneo still loom in the horizon.

“Our game against La Salle would be the gauge on how far we have improved,” Mamon said.

Laure found her stride to lead UST with 17 points while Lastimosa had 12.

It was a dismal offensive outing for NU as they only got six measly points from top scorer Jerrili Malabanan.

FEU, National University, University of the Philippines and Adamson University are scrunched up in fourth place with 4-6 records.