Bring out the ladder
It took the referees what seemed like an eternity, but when it all came down to it, La Salle marched to the UAAP Season 88 Finals ahead of everyone else via an elimination round sweep after defeating National University, 27-25, 15-25, 23-25, 25-23, 15-13 and forcing a stepladder semifinals.
La Salle held a 14-13 lead in the enthralling endgame before initially being whistled for a four-touch violation, which would have extended the set. But seasoned coach Ramil de Jesus’ eagle eyes spotted a net violation on the Bulldogs for the challenge as the Lady Spikers’ panic turned into celebration in front of more than 19,000 screaming souls at the Mall of Asia Arena.
“If they wanted to win, we wanted to win it more,” Shane Reterta said after dropping 21 points built on 14 attacks, four aces and three blocks. “We prepared for this for a long, long time. We knew we needed to sweep [the eliminations] so we won’t have much trouble (getting to the Finals). We knew we could do it.”
Digging deep
It looked like National U had the game in the bag during the fourth set with a 22-20 lead. For a while, it looked like Season 88 was headed to the traditional Final Four setup.
However, the Lady Spikers showed their veteran and championship wits, unloading a 5-1 rally capped by an Angel Canino crosscourt attack that sent the game to a heart-pounding conclusion.
With the 14-game sweep, La Salle will be awaiting the result of the stepladder semifinals, which will see the Nos. 3 and 4 teams first playing a KO match, with the winner advancing to face the No. 2 seed, which will still likely be the defending champion Bulldogs, even if they dropped to 9-4.
Angel Canino had 15 points in another steady performance for the Lady Spikers, who also drew 16 points from Shevana Laput and 15 from Amie Provido, made up of 10 attacks and five blocks.
“We saw how much heart we showed. Nobody gave up until the end,” Provido said in Filipino. “We know everything will get harder from here on out. We’re in the Finals now so we need to triple our efforts.”
Vange Alinsug paced National with 22 points, with Arah Panique and Sam Cantada tallying 19 and 14 points, respectively.
While La Salle sits pretty in the next week or so, the battle for the last two spots in the semifinals remains in the balance after the University of Santo Tomas tripped the University of the Philippines, 23-25, 25-21, 25-22, 25-19, earlier.
Tigresses seek upset
Angge Poyos exploded with 25 points for Santo Tomas, which also got 17 from Reg Jurado and 13 from Jonna Perdido.
The Golden Tigresses rose to an 8-5 record for the last slot, one game above fellow playoff-hungry Lady Tamaraws, before Santo Tomas closes out its elimination round stint against the Bulldogs.
An upset of the Bulldogs on Wednesday would have the Tigresses advancing to the playoffs regardless of the result of the Far Eastern-Ateneo match.
But should National U and Far Eastern win, a playoff for No. 4 between the Tigresses and the Lady Tamaraws will be held.
