UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS fought five grueling sets to beat San Sebastian College-Recoletos, 20-25, 25-23, 27-29, 25-15, 15-9, in Game Three yesterday to nab the Shakey’s V-League Second Conference title at the packed The Arena in San Juan.

Venus Bernal, the reigning Most Valuable Player, finished with 25 points to power the Tigresses to their third championship in the league. De La Salle is the only other team to win as many.

The 21-year-old Commerce student pulled off the winning spike down the line to end the well-fought game sending the Tigresses into jubilant celebration.

“Nalulungkot ako na kailangan may matalo,” said UST coach August Santamaria. “Pero siguro talagang binagay sa amin ito.”

The Lady Stags looked to be in control after fighting off two UST set points to take the third set, 29-27.

But the Tigresses clustered eight straight points courtesy of Bernal and Mary Jean Balse to take a commanding 21-11 lead in the fourth set of a match that lasted two hours.

Guest player Suzanne Roces fired three attacks in a 7-1 run that gave them a comfortable 9-4 lead in the final set.

Balse added 24 points for the Tigresses while Roces had 14 and Tabaquero had 13.

San Sebastian’s Thai guest player Buale Jaroensri scored 24 of her 25 points on attacks while Laurence Ann Latigay had 23 of her 25 on attacks.

The Lady Stags, runners-up in the last two conferences, took the opener of the best-of-three showdown, 25-16, 25-19, 17-25, 23-25, 15-13, last Friday. But the Tigresses, winners of the first conference, fought back with an emphatic 25-16, 25-15, 25-21 triumph Sunday to send the series to a winner-take-all match.

Guest player Suzanne Roces and Mary Jean Balse made things happen for UST in Game Two to force yesterday’s rubber match. Roces and Balse combined for 28 points, while limiting SSC’s Thai import Bualee Jaroensri to 17 points.

Winning The Only Thing

With nary a gold to show—and its Southeast Asian (SEA) neighbors gobbling up most of the mints in the preopening events in shooting—Team Philippines faces an uphill climb in its defense of the overall championship when the 24th SEA Games formally begins tomorrow in the province of Nakhon Rachasima and two other satellite venues in Thailand.

Trouble brewing in Team Donaire?

AS he expects several major challenges to come his way next year, Filipino world flyweight champion Nonito Donaire Jr. is appealing to his American promoter to treat him like a real champion.

UNIVERSITY OF SANTO TOMAS fought five grueling sets to beat San Sebastian College-Recoletos, 20-25, 25-23, 27-29, 25-15, 15-9, in Game Three yesterday to nab the Shakey’s V-League Second Conference title at the packed The Arena in San Juan.

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BAGUIO CITY—The Fil-Am Golf Invitational never misses to hit the 1,000-mark in terms of the number of participants each year and organizers want to keep it that way forever and maintain its status in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest amateur tournament.

Ask Coach E: Coaches’ Code of Conduct

A few people may not be aware of it, but there is such thing as a coaches’ Code of Conduct. This is a set of standards and guidelines after which coaches must pattern behavior in mentoring basketball.