UST recovers from opening day loss, blanks UE for first win

University of Santo Tomas handled University of the East with ease and came away with a 25-17, 25-15, 25-21 victory in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament Wednesday at Filoil Flying V Centre.

The Golden Tigresses lost their season-opener to defending champion De La Salle in an epic five-setter, 25-20, 17-25, 25-22, 15-22, 15-8, but regained composure in their second game to improve to 1-1.

UST was in control of the game from start to finish, and held a comfortable 21-19 lead in the third set after Cherry Rondina found the open spot in the middle of the UE defense.

UE scored on back-to-back hits with Seth Rodriguez to cut the deficit to 24-21 with a service ace but Rondina ended UE’s persistence and dropped the hammer in the middle of the Lady Warriors’ side of the floor.

“This was a good bounce back win for us after coming from that five-set loss, said UST head coach Kung Fu Reyes in Filipino.

“We just have to be consistent because in the first two sets we really performed well, but when we got to the third set we kind of relaxed.”

Rondina finished the game with 20 points to lead all scorers while Dimdim Pacres added eight points for the Golden Tigresses.

Mary Ann Mendrez led the 0-2 Red Warriors with 10 points while Judith Abil added nine.

UST was on the offensive through out the game and scored on 40 spikes, 13 more than what UE was able to muster, while also enjoying 26 free points due to the Lady Warriors’ 26 errors.