UP Lady Maroons celebrate their latest title. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines—University of the Philippines ended University of Santo Tomas’ undefeated run in the most opportune time, coming away with a 25-21, 16-25, 25-23, 25-19 win to claim the Philippine Superliga Collegiate Grand Slam title Thursday at Filoil Flying V Center.
The Lady Maroons secured their second title in the offseason in the most satisfying of ways by getting back at the only team that dealt them their lone loss in the eliminations in the Golden Tigresses.
UP held on to a small 17-15 lead in the fourth set but that margin grew slowly to 21-15 after UST was called with a double contact violation.
The Golden Tigresses then shot themselves in the foot when they couldn’t make a successful return, putting UP in the 24-18 match point.
Maristela Layug then finished things off with a sharp kill from the middle
“We were down and we were able to pick ourselves up and we were happy with that,” said UP head coach Godfrey Okumu. “The motto of day is ‘fight’ and we fought until the end.”
“When we were down we kept reminding ourselves that we have to fight.”
Dianna Carlos, who missed UP’s previous championship in the other collegiate league due to injury, powered the Lady Maroons with 17 points while rookie Nicole Magsarile and Layug added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Eya Laure led UST with 14 points while Milena Alessandrini added 13 points.