UST roars back, ousts NU to complete Final Four cast

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

University of Santo Tomas came back from two sets down and shocked National University, 20-25, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21, 15-12, to return to the Final Four in the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Golden Tigresses captured the last semifinals spot and the third seed in Season 79, after finishing with a 9-5 record while the Lady Bulldogs missed their second straight semifinals after capping off their preliminaries with a 7-7 card.

This is the first Final Four appearance of the Golden Tigresses after failing to reach the semifinals for four straight seasons.

Substitute Dimdim Pacres sealed the Golden Tigresses’ comeback with a lucky bounce to end the nip-and-tuck fifth set and bury NU’s Final Four aspirations.

UST head coach Kung Fu Reyes said their hard work and the desire to end their dryspell pushed them in the last three sets.

“We really worked ourselves out until the end, at least we got the result we wanted,” said Reyes. “The game was really difficult because we were fighting for a spot in the semifinals and whoever blinks first will crash out.”

The Tigresses had a scare late in the match when EJ Laure ended awkwardly on her left ankle with them ahead, 13-12, in the fifth set. Laure shook it off and was able to finish the match on the playing court.

Skipper Cherry Rondina and Laure had 22 points apiece to lead UST while the unheralded Tin Francisco finished with 11 points.

Ria Meneses also finished in double figures when she put up 10 points for UST.

Jaja Santiago led NU with 30 points while Jorelle Singh and Aiko Urdas combined for 24. b