Rookie Trisha Tubu leads the Adamson Lady Falcons. –UAAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines–Adamson carried out a surefire approach to frustrate University of Santo Tomas in straight sets, 25-15, 25-17, 25-19, on Wednesday in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Trisha Tubu delivered the lightning-quick kill on the final set that snuffed the hopes of their rivals and finished with 13 points while Kate Santiago smashed the other side of the floor with 11 attacks as the Lady Falcons registered their third win in four games.
Adamson came in prepared, viewing UST’s previous match against defending champion National University many times over to neutralize the Tigresses, who achieved a milestone by inflicting the Lady Bulldogs their first defeat after winning 20 straight matches since the 2020 season.
“We really prepared for this game. We had a viewing and we trained specific drills for this game,’’ said Rizza Cruz, who added 12 points and four blocks.
Duplicating their act in the first set, the Lady Falcons raced to a six-point advantage at the onset of the second and pressed it further on Santiago and Tubu’s production.
Gula and Penafiel trimmed it down with an assortment of attacks, but another error hounded the Tigresses, allowing Adamson to mount a final push.
Santiago’s ace and Almonte’s intrusion off the block pushed the Lady Falcons closer to another set victory with Cruz capping it off with a crosscourt spike.
But the Tigresses didn’t want to go down without a tight encounter.
Eya Laure came alive in the third set, attacking her way to pull UST out of a hole and put them in a position to turn the tide.
Santiago, however, came to Adamson’s rescue and broke the final deadlock before Tubu took over with a pair of blocks and the game-clinching spike.
Laure had nine points with seven attacks and Renee Penafiel added seven markers for the Tigresses, who fell into a tie with the FEU Lady Tamaraws at 2-2.