UST raps AdU, gains V-League semis

University of Santo Tomas held off Adamson, 25-15, 17-25, 25-18, 25-23, to join San Sebastian and Ateneo in the semifinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Second Conference at The Arena in San Juan last night.

Four Tigresses churned out double-digit outputs to underscore the team’s balanced offense with veterans Venus Bernal and Mary Jean Balse combining for 33 points to power the team to its fourth win against one loss.

The victory tied UST, winner of the first conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza, with Ateneo in second, half-a-game behind San Sebastian.

Adamson, on the other hand, remained in fourth with a 3-3 mark but must hurdle its final elims game against La Salle next week to formalize its entry to the next round.

Angeli Tabaquero scored 13 points while guest player Suzanne Roces had 10 for the Tigresses.

Earlier, Lyceum, needing a victory to stay in the hunt, did just that yesterday, nipping a stubborn Letran side in a thrilling five-setter, 6-25, 25-20, 25-17, 23-25, 15-13, before a big Sunday crowd.

It was only the Lady Pirates’ second victory in six games but it kept Lyceum in the race for one of the semis berths heading into the crucial phase of the single round elims among eight teams.

Lyceum also went through a wringer in nipping La Salle in five sets last Friday, averting an outright elimination in the tournament organized by Sports Vision.

The Lady Pirates recovered from a slow start by taking the second and third sets and appeared headed for a trouble-free victory until the also-ran Lady Knights fought back to send the match into a deciding set.

But Sherrilyn Carrillo and Beverly Boto took charge for Lyceum in the fifth as the Lady Pirates hung tough to foil the Lady Knights and post a two-point win in 1:48-hour encounter.

Letran dropped to 0-6.

The Letran-Lyceum game will be aired on NBN-4 starting at 2 p.m. today while the UST-Adamson duel will be telecast tomorrow.

The event is  organized by Sports Vision and supported by Mikasa, Accel, 100Plus Isotonic Drink and Active White Skin whitening products.

For updates: www.v-league.ph.