UAAP volleyball: La Salle blanks FEU in finals rematch for back-to-back wins

MANILA, Philippines—De La Salle didn’t care for any ballyhoo as it swept Far Eastern University, 25-15, 25-19, 26-24, in their first meeting since last year’s championship round in the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament Saturday at Filoil Flying V Center.

The defending champions Lady Spikers wrapped the first round with back-to-back wins for a 5-2 record to move to second place behind Ateneo while the Lady Tamaraws dropped to 4-3 to stay at the fourth seed.

Dispatching FEU, however, wasn’t met without any tribulations.

The two teams traded blows well into the latter part of the third set but it was the Lady Tamaraws who ultimately shot themselves on the foot.

Tin Tiamzon tied things up at 24-24 after Lycha Ebon’s kill and what followed was an absolute cluttering on the part of FEU.

Celine Domingo inadvertently put La Salle at the 25-24 match point after her attempt went straight to the net and Ebon eventually gave the Lady Spikers the victory when she too sent the ball straight to the net.

La Salle head coach Ramil De Jesus said his team was able to take advantage of FEU’s sluggish movements in the first two sets but were eventually caught up in the third.

“I think FEU was kind of shocked in the first two sets and my players took that opportunity,” said De Jesus in Filipino. “We took advantage of that and we ended up with positive results in the first two sets.”

“Once the third set started, though, the FEU players got in sync and they were able to stick with us throughout the period.”

Tin Tiamzon finished with 13 points for the Lady Spikers while May Luna added 10.

Heather Guino-o led the Lady Tamaraws with 10 points.