La Salle completes 3-peat, sweeps FEU

Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

Far Eastern University needed a comeback to stay alive in the title series, but the only rally came from defending champion La Salle.

The Lady Spikers completed a stunning opening set fightback en route to a 26-24, 25-20, 26-24, win in Game 2 to claim a third straight championship in the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament.

La Salle needed only three sets to win but the Lady Spikers had to survive two grueling sets just to put away the Lady Tamaraws.

“We thought it was over during the last part of the third set, but I told them not to celebrate yet because the fight is still far from over,” said DLSU head coach Ramil De Jesus, who is responsible for all of La Salle’s 11 women’s volleyball titles, in Filipino. “FEU just doesn’t give up.”

FEU pulled even at 24 after trailing, 20-24, and by as much as seven, 12-19, in the third set before La Salle responded with a Kianna Dy drop and Tin Tiamzon hit.

“We just don’t want to let opportunities like this go to waste. When we won Game 1, I told my players to not let the series reach Game 3,” added De Jesus, whose team took the finals opener in straight sets, 29-27, 25-21, 25-22, on Saturday.

Just like in Game 1, La Salle’s championship poise and FEU’s inexperience playing in the grandest stage showed.

Down, 24-21, the Lady Spikers saved three set points before Dy put the exclamation point with back-to-back emphatic hits to end the first set.

Dy finished with a game-high 19 points in her last UAAP game while fellow graduating players Mary Joy Baron and Dawn Macandili had 10 points and 21 excellent digs, respectively. Macandili bagged the Finals MVP award.

Bernadeth Pons gave it her all in her farewell game for the Lady Tamaraws. She was the lone FEU player tallying double-digits in scoring with 17 points.