Falcons soar to new heights

MANILA, Philippines - Adamson bucked an early challenge by San Sebastian-Excelroof and cruised in the final two sets to fashion out a 26-24, 25-17, 25-16 victory yesterday and capture the Shakey’s V-League Season 7 second conference crown at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Lady Falcons thus wrapped up the short but thrilling best-of-three series, 2-1, after seizing the opener, 25-13, 25-17, 30-32, 21-25, 15-13, and dropping the second game, 24-26, 25-23, 25-22, 25-20, before imposing their will in the decider to bag their second championship in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

Adamson became just the third team after UST (six) and La Salle (three) with two or more titles in the country’s premier women’s volley league organized by Sports Vision.

“Our discipline is the key in this win,” said Adamson’s coach Dulce Pante in Filipino.

“This is probably our sweetest win because it reached three games. It’s hard but we accomplished this because of the dedication of my players,” she added.

The Lady Falcons’ first championship came two years ago in the first conference when they swept the Ateneo Lady Eagles in two.

The Lady Stags last took the lead at 24-23 in the opening frame but Bautista came through with back-to-back kills then reserve Sheila Pineda scored on an ace to snatch the win.

The Lady Falcons outhit the league’s top attacking squad, 48-33, and outblocked their rivals, 9-2, en route to victory that capped a sterling campaign in the season-ending conference highlighted by a sweep of the quarterfinal round.

The Lady Stags were actually on their way to grabbing the first set when they took a 24-23 lead but Nene Bautista unleashed back-to-back kills and Sheila Pineda launched a service winner to snatch the win.

Adamson sustained its form in the second, pouncing on the Stags’ errors to build leads of as many as nine, 16-7, to go 2-up then Bautista, Laborte, Benting and Soriano combined again in the third to complete the sweep.

It was the second straight runner-up finish and sixth overall for the Lady Stags, who also lost the first conference crown to UST, also in sudden death. It was also the sixth time that Thai import Jeng Bualee failed to win a crown in the league backed by Accel, Mikasa and Excelroof.

Bualee finished with 17 points but no local Stag scored in double-digits as they struggled in the face of the Lady Falcons no-nonsense defense. Elaine Cruz had eight hits and Joy Benito was held to just five points.

“Maybe next time,” said San Sebastian mentor Roger Gorayeb, who has steered the school to multiple titles in the NCAA.

Bautista ended up the Finals MVP after capping her spectacular performance with 17 hits, including six on receptions and service returns while standouts Paulina Soriano and Angela Benting scattered 13 hits apiece.

Soriano and Benting also powered Adamson in the UAAP beach volley competition at the University of the East Caloocan sand courts last week.

Blocking proved pivotal for Adamson as it scored nine behind Soriano, Benting and guest player Michelle Laborte.