La Salle books 9th straight finals berth

There were flashes of brilliance from the Lady Spikers, but La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus knows it would take more than that to retain the UAAP women’s volleyball crown.

The Lady Spikers shrugged off University of Santo Tomas’ inspired third set performance to come away with a 25-14, 25-20, 24-26, 25-13 victory and clinch a ninth straight finals appearance Saturday night at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

La Salle got big performances from Kim Dy, Desiree Cheng, Majoy Baron, Tin Tiamzon, setter Kim Fajardo and libero Dawn Macandili to secure a seat in the best-of-three finals, where it will meet the winner of the Ateneo-Far Eastern U clash starting next Saturday.

“I’m still concerned with the way we played in the third set. We don’t want to play that way in the finals,” said De Jesus in Filipino.

The Tigresses, who made the Final Four for the first time in five years, had no answer to the Lady Spikers’ firepower and stellar floor defense in the first two sets, but they drew inspiration from EJ Laure in the third frame to extend their season.

Laure bucked a sprained ankle to power UST to a fourth set. The sight of Laure getting taped up by father, Eddie, drew cheers from the crowd and sparked UST, which survived despite wasting four set points.

“I told them we just can’t play that way and have that kind of mentality in the third set,” said De Jesus.