UST belles disarm Lyceum Pirates

Santo Tomas imposed its will and strength on the net as it struggled without its top receiver, repulsing a hard-fighting Lyceum side, 25-20, 20-25, 25-19, 21-25, 15-6, last night and taking a step closer to a championship stint in the Shakey’s V-League at the Lyceum gym.

Joyce Paño and Venus Bernal unleashed the power kills and the Tigresses pounced on an erratic Lady Pirates in the deciding set to pound out the thrilling victory that took two hours and 13 minutes to finish.

UST thus guns for the jugular tomorrow for a berth in the best-of-three finals set next week.

But the Tigresses will have to do it without top receiver Kate Co Yu Kang, who joined the national team competing in the Princess’ Cup in Thailand.

"Hindi kami maka-receive ng maayos, wala kasi ang top receiver namin," said UST coach August Sta. Maria of one of the Co Yu Kang playing sisters. "Buti na lang maganda ang blocking namin sa fifth set kaya nanalo pa rin."

After knotting the count at a set apiece, the host squad roared to a 9-3 start in the third set and looked headed for snatching a 2-1 lead and a chance of pulling off the biggest upset of the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s and telecast "live" on IBC 13.

But the Intramuros-based belles failed to sustain their momentum and wavered in the face of UST’s solid comeback with Paño, now an Air Force recruit, Bernal and national team mainstay Mary Jean Balse powering the Tigresses to a 25-19 win and a 2-1 lead.

Maria Angelica Bigcas and hefty Jenny Rose Garcia, however, refused to give up, unleashing a barrage of kills while helping their teammates firm up their defense to snatch a 25-21 victory in the fourth and send the match to a deciding set.

A drop shot by Bigcas, the MVP statistical race leader who is nursing a dislocated right shoulder, gave Lyceum the first point in the decider but the hosts self-destructed with unforced errors in the face of Pano-led attack.

"Sayang, four sets dapat kami ang panalo. Naubusan kami sa fifth set, naging inconsistent," said Lyceum mentor Emil Lontoc, who also coaches the UST volleyball men’s team. "Pero hindi pa tapos, we’ll surely make adjustments at sana makabalik kami sa Game 2."