The Lady Archers clawed their way out of a 9-16 deficit in the first set and barely took the set then dominated the rest of the way to extend their unbeaten run to 11 that assured them of the first spot in the best-of-three finals.
La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus used 12 players to confuse the opposition with comely Manilla Santos and Thai import Jindarat Kanchana leading the way with 12 and 10 hits, respectively.
"I will try to experiment with my rotation in our last four games because I know teams out there will try to scout our team," said de Jesus, who steered the Taft-based school to a three-peat feat in the UAAP.
The Lady Tams reeled to their sixth loss against five wins, further diminishing their chances in the event presented by Shakey’s Pizza and organized by Sports Vision.
Earlier, Adamson thwarted Lyceum’s fierce challenge as it eked out a tough 25-15, 20-25, 25-20, 13-25, 15-10 victory to re-join San Sebastian at second place with identical 7-4 (win-loss) slates in the event backed by Accel, Mikasa, VFresh, Aquabest, ABC-5 and ABC Sports.
The Lady Falcons got another big game from Cherry Rose Macatangay, who spewed 35 hits, including 30 on kills, to boost Adamson’s bid while dealing the Lady Pirates their fourth straight loss and seventh overall against four wins.
"This is an important win for us," said Adamson coach Dulce Pante in Filipino.
The troika of Con Con Legaspi, Sherrilyn Carillo and Dahlia Cruz led the Intramuros-based squad with 19, 16 and 13 hits, respectively, but their effort only went for naught in the face of Macatangay’s heads-up game.