Tigresses on cusp of first title shot in eight years

Making the most of the deadly guns that it has, University of Santo Tomas imposed its brand of game and put three-time defending champion La Salle in dire straits Wednesday night.

UST knocked La Salle down to No. 3 and moved within another win of barging into the finals of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament after a masterful 25-14, 25-23, 23-25, 25-19 victory at jampacked Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.

The victory put the Tigresses on track toward making the title series for the first time in eight years as La Salle would now have to beat Santo Tomas two straight times to advance.

The league’s best attacking team used its advantage to the hilt in carving out the win, and the Tigresses are not expected to divert from that game plan when they shoot for the all-important win in their Final Four matchup Sunday.

In the midst of the hysteria, Santo Tomas coach Kungfu Reyes said he wanted to savor the win for a little bit.

“It’s a beautiful feeling we have now. We have the twice-to-beat [edge] for the first time in a long while,” said Reyes in Filipino. “This is history for me.”

The Tigresses, who have now won five straight, also put the Lady Spikers in a dicey situation as it marked the first time in 10 seasons La Salle won’t have a twice-to-beat edge.

“But my concern now is how to [physically] recover, it has been a rough playoffs,” said Reyes. “We need to be refreshed because the real war will be on Sunday.”

UST top player and main Most Valuable Player contender Sisi Rondina scored 29 points as the Tigresses outgunned the Lady Spikers, 52-33.

“I only had one thing in mind, and that was to win this match,” said Rondina, as she shrugged off chants of “M-V-P! M-V-P!,” every time she served.

Prized rookie Eya Laure added 17 points, while Ysa Jimenez and Caitlin Viray added a total of 15 more for the Tigresses.