La Salle bags back-to-back UAAP women’s volleyball title

CHAMPIONS AGAIN. La Salle bags the UAAP Ladies Volleyball Championship for the second straight year, defeating Ateneo in three sets at the Arena in San Juan on Feb. 29, 2012. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines – La Salle had its perfect record blemished by Ateneo, but it hardly mattered in the end.

The Lady Spikers re-asserted their mastery and season-long dominance over the Lady Eagles and hammered out a  25-16, 25-22 and 25-13 win to bag their second straight UAAP Women’s Volleyball title Wednesday at the Arena in San Juan.

La Salle, behind its fearless skiper Charlene Cruz, left Ateneo with absolutely no space to grow confidence as the Lady Spikers proved aggressive from the get go.

Cruz, playing on her last game with the Lady Spikers after joining the squad in 2005, racked up 12 points on 11 kills.

“I’m just thankful and blessed that everything turned out the way it did,” said Cruz, who bagged the finals MVP award.

Feeling that it was definitely their time again in the face of the Lady Eagles’ crumbling confidence, the Lady Spikers turned up the heat in the third set and simply pulled away.

Michelle Gumabao, who’s been a constant source of energy for the squad, added 11 points for La Salle, which had a perfect in the double round robin eliminations.

The Lady Spikers’ perfect record, which stretched to 25 straight wins, was blemished by the Lady Eagles in a resounding victory in game one of the finals.

But Ateneo looked nothing like the squad that took La Salle out of its game last Saturday as they failed to keep their intensity.

Alyssa Valdez still finished with 12 points on a losing cause for Ateneo, who still made history by making it to the finals for the first time.