MANILA – De La Salle University Lady Spikers barged to the finals of the UAAP Season 80 after a 27-25, 25-19, 25-11 sweep of National University Lady Bulldogs in the semifinals Sunday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Led by Desiree Cheng, Mary Joy Baron, Kim Dy, and Michelle Cobb, the two-time defending champion easily walloped NU to set up a best-of-three finale against Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws.
FEU clinched the first finals seat Saturday night by beating Ateneo Lady Eagles 25-20, 25-21, 14-25, 25-19.
Negrense Bernadeth Pons led the way with triple-double 17 points, 19 excellent receptions and 16 digs for Lady Tamaraws, which reached the finals for the first time in nine years.
Late in the fourth set Pons scored back-to-back kills to put FEU at match point before Ateneo scored 3 straight points to stay in the game.
But Lady Tamaraws sealed the deal with Kyle Negrito scoring a huge block on Jhoanna Maraguinot.
On Sunday, Lady Spikers was behind for most of the first set – the last time at 21-23 – but hits from Cheng and Dy tied the count 25-all. A block by Baron and an ace by Cheng ended the set.
La Salle was up 18-14 in the second set when NU clawed its way back to as close as 22-23. A crosscourt hit by May Luna followed by a block by Ernestine Tiamzon gave DLSU a 2-0 set lead.
Already sensing victory, Lady Spikers opened the third set 13-3 behind Baron and Tiamzon. Errors by Lady Bulldogs allowed DLSU’s lead to swell further to end the match in three sets./PN
