Another title duel for UST, DLSU up?

Unless Philippine Sports Commission shows up with more staying power and Letran springs a big surprise, there’s no stopping University of Santo Tomas and La Salle from arranging a rematch for the Shakey’s V-League women’s volleyball crown.

For the third straight time, the Lady Legends, composed of members of the 1993 SEA Games champion squad, lost steam when dragged into a full route by a younger crop of rivals, blowing a 2-1 set lead and a 7-5 advantage in the fifth set in the opener of their best-of-three semis series with the Tigresses Thursday. UST won, 25-21, 23-25, 24-26, 25-16, 15-10.

And the Legends’ stamina will again be put to test when they try to force a sudden death for one of the championship berths in Game 2 starting at 1 p.m. today before another expected banner crowd at the Rizal Coliseum.

The first finals slot is a cinch for the Lady Archers, looking unbeatable with their superb form that netted them 12 straight victories, including a straight-set (25-20, 25-17, 25-16) win over the Lady Knights, also Thursday, in the other Final Four encounter.

"Sana huwag kaming malasin," said La Salle mentor Ramil de Jesus, referring to their bid for a 13th straight victory against the Lady Knights at 3 p.m. at the Rizal Coliseum. "Okay lang naman kung matalo kami, huwag lang may ma-injured sa players ko."

To beat them, however, would take the Lady Knights so much effort since the reigning back-to-back UAAP champions are playing rock-solid games since dropping the opener to the Tigresses two months ago and are actually preparing this early for the tougher task ahead — the finals.