Tigresses bare teeth in win over Lady Maroons

Eya Laure. Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—There’s a brewing rivalry between University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines.

What started out in the Philippine Super Liga has transcended into the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament as the Golden Tigresses met the Lady Maroons for the first time since losing in the championship round of the Collegiate Grand Slam.

UST avenged their offseason defeat to UP with a convincing four-set win, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-20, Sunday at Filoil Flying V Centre in a match that showed the different side of the Golden Tigresses.

The Tigresses played with a little bit more spunk and a whole lot of swag against the Lady Maroons which is something that rookie Eya Laure said the team needs to do more often.

“I think we ought to show a little swag because people always say we’re a little too kind when we play so we tried it on our practices and it actually helped us today,” said Laure in Filipino.

Rondina did not play with the Golden Tigresses during the Collegiate Grand Slam since she opted to suit up for Petron in the All-Filipino Conference and her absence attributed to UST’s 25-21, 16-25, 25-23, 25-19, loss to UP in the finals.

“I actually didn’t know that something happened in the PSL but as their leader I always guide them but I was kind of new to the ‘swag’ thing,” said Rondina.

The swagger, though, did help Laure and Rondina as they put up 18 and 17 points, respectively, with UST improving to a 2-1 record for the second spot in the UAAP standings.

Laure, however, said their tendencies earlier weren’t meant to rile up UP but to boost their confidence up.

“We did that to boost our team spirit, it’s for us and not for our opponents,” said Laure.

“We also did that for Milena (Alessandrini) because she’s so quiet,” said Rondina of her co-captain who led UST’s offense with 22 points.