Tigresses go for V-League plum

MANILA, Philippines - University of Santo Tomas hopes to make it two-in-row against Adamson and complete a sweep of the Shakey’s V-League Season 6 titles as they clash in Game Two of the second conference finals at The Arena in San Juan City today.

Bucking a poor second set outing, the Tigresses re-imposed their might on both ends to win the next two and fashion out a 25-15, 19-25, 25-22, 25-21 victory in the opener of their best-of-three series.

Unless the Lady Falcons come up with new ploys to break through their rivals’ wall-like net defense and slow down the Tigresses’ hitters, the España-based squad could well be on its way to another championship in the league it has dominated with eighth finals appearances and four championships.

UST tries to make it five as it goes all out for another win in their 4 p.m. encounter.

Far Eastern U, meanwhile, eyes a sweep against reigning five-time NCAA champion San Sebastian in their own best-of-three playoff for third at 2 p.m.

The twin matches can be viewed live on webcast on www.v-league.ph, according to the organizing Sports Vision.

The Lady Tams leaned on Rachel Daquis’ career-high 29 hits, including the team’s last three points in the deciding set, as FEU eked out a 25-22, 25-13, 20-25, 12-25, 15-13 victory in Game One.

UST, which beat San Sebastian in sudden death to claim the first conference plum, came through with a conference-best 21 blocks to anchor its four-set romp over Adamson with the Tigresses all set to wrap up the crown with another solid all-around game today.

The Tigresses, behind skipper Aiza Maizo and Maika Ortiz, shut down the Falcons’ top hitters, particularly team captain Angela Benting, to carve out the win although UST coach Cesael delos Santos stressed the need to improve to realize a dream back-to-back title romp in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and backed by Mikasa, Accel, Mighty Bond and OraCare.

“We still need to further raise the level of our game if we want to win again,” said Delos Santos. “We’re doing well with our blocking but we still have to improve on our reception.”