La Salle drew inspiration from the returning Ara Galang as the Lady Spikers rolled to a straight-set victory over the Far Eastern U Lady Tamaraws Wednesday night in the UAAP Season 78 women’s volleyball tournament at Philsports Arena.
Fully recovered from an ACL injury she sustained in the Final Four last season, Galang finished with 10 points and five digs as the Lady Spikers got their campaign off to a positive start.
“I’m just happy to be back playing and I’m able to do things I usually do on the court,” said Galang in Filipino. “The fear (of the injury) is gone. I feel blessed to have started and played the game.”
Mika Reyes and Carol Cerveza dished out solid games for the eight-time champions by finishing with 13 and 10 points, respectively. The Lady Spikers kept their poise late in each set, outsteadying the Lady Tamaraws with Galang and Reyes providing clutch hits.
It was a victorious day for La Salle as its men’s team also scored a hard earned 25-18, 28-26, 26-24 triumph over University of the East. But the game took a somber twist when UE middle hitter Samuel Lelic suffered a gruesome left ankle injury early in the second frame.
Adamson also notched its first win in the women’s division by nipping University of Santo Tomas, 25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 28-30, 16-14, earlier.
Mylene Paat and Jema Galanza came up big for the Lady Falcons, scoring the last two points of the match. Paat blocked Cherry Rondina’s spike to break the game’s last deadlock at 14-14 before Galanza’s delivered an ace to seal the victory.
The Lady Falcons survived a huge game from Rodina who finished with 30 points.
“We’re glad we got the breaks in the end,” said Adamson coach Sherwin Meneses.