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UNIVERSITY of
Santo Tomas
stopped De La Salle, 25-14, 25-21, 25-17, yesterday then
nipped San Sebastian College in the tiebreak to clinch
the first championship berth in the Shakeys V-League
volleyball tournament at The Arena in San Juan.
Needing
to hold the Lady Archers to 53 points to gain the No. 1
spot in the final, the Tigresses did just that, limiting
the three-time champion Lady Archers to 52 and advancing
to the championship of the event they ruled in its
inaugurals in 2004.
San
Sebastian earlier swept Lyceum, 26-24, 25-17, 25-23, to
finish on top with an 8-3 (win-loss) mark, later matched
by UST, which went on to edge SSC in the FIVB tournament
tiebreak rule on game-point ratio.
The
Tigresses, who skipped the last conference following the
graduation of its top players, finished with a 1.146
tiebreak score while San Sebastian wound up with 1.144.
Thus,
the Lady Stags, runners-up the last conference, settled
for the No. 2 spot and dropped into a playoff for the
second final berth with the Lady Archers, who gained a
crack at the final by winning three of their four games
in the semifinals.
De La
Salle, bidding to stay alive for a fourth straight crack
at the championship, closed out with a 6-5 slate.
It was a
heartbreaking setback for Lyceum, which led most of the
way in the eliminations only to sputter in the
semifinals in the face of UST’s and La Salle’s stirring
comebacks.
The Lady
Pirates finished with a 7-4 mark and wound up third in
the tournament sponsored by Shakeys Pizza and organized
by Sports Vision.
The
playoff for the second final berth will be held tomorrow
at 5 p.m., also at The Arena, while Game One of the
best-of-three final, backed by Mikasa, Accel, Jaemarks
Restaurant and Smart Buddy, will be played on Sunday.
Thai
import Jaroensri Bualee rattled off three straight
points in the third set as SSC completed a sweep of
Lyceum.
Lou Ann
Latigay and Sasa Devanadera also dished out a pair of
solid games for SSC, firing 13 and 10 points as the Lady
Stags survived a first-set fightback by the Lady
Pirates, outplayed their rivals in the second set before
leaning on the power of Bualee in the third to clinch
the win. |
