Here comes the reign again

The latest episode of the famed rivalry ended with La Salle grinding out a gritty, deliberate triumph over Ateneo Saturday night.

Stepping on it late in the fourth and most of the fifth, the Lady Spikers swept the season favorites Lady Eagles, using a 19-25, 25-14, 18-25, 25-18, 15-10 victory in Game 2 to claim their second straight UAAP women’s volleyball title.

Newly crowned season MVP Majoy Baron and Ernestine Tiamzon delivered the telling blows as La Salle knocked off Ateneo’s belated attempts to come back late in the deciding frame for the triumph witnessed by a crowd 20,860 at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“This was like a rollercoaster ride,” said La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus who told his team: “I didn’t want to have a Game 3.”

La Salle continued building on its rising dynasty, stretching its dominance of the past decade with its sixth title—a run tainted only by Ateneo’s back-to-back titles during the Alyssa Valdez era. All in all, La Salle has collected 10 titles in the last 20 seasons.

This season, La Salle lost both its elimination games against Ateneo, whose hallmark is its battering-ram offense.

But La Salle found a way to stop it in the best-of-three finals with no-frills defense which De Jesus said they worked very hard to achieve.

“We focused on what we lacked,” said De Jesus. “It’s the system, hard work and discipline displayed by my players.”

Finals MVP Desiree Cheng capped her return after sitting out last season due to injury when she, Kim Kianna Dy and Aduke Ogunsanya went on the offensive to break an 11-11 deadlock in the fourth and force a fifth set.

Dy wound up with 19 points, Tiamzon 16, Cheng added 12 and Baron 10 for La Salle. Kim Fajardo ended her collegiate career with 43 excellent sets and six points, four of them on service aces.