La Salle captures UAAP tennis crown

MANILA, Philippines - Ernesto Pantua III dismantled National U’s erstwhile unbeaten player Leander Lazaro in the deciding singles as De La Salle U copped the UAAP Season 74 men’s lawn tennis crown via a 3-2 win over the overachieving Bulldogs yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.

Not letting go despite dropping the first set, the sophomore Pantua patiently worked his way back into the match and outlasted the rookie Lazaro in a war of attrition, 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, to take the clincher, capping the Green Archers’ undefeated run to the title.

“Lazaro has not been beaten the whole UAAP season so it’s a very, very big win for Pantua,” said DLSU coach Roland Kraut. “Our strategy was to stretch it to four or five shots because Lazaro is good at finishing the point in the first or second shots.”

The ploy worked as Pantua broke Lazaro twice, firing a couple of winners and forcing the exhausted Bulldogs ace to a slew of misfired shots in the decider to prevail as DSLU teammates and supporters rushed to him in celebration.

It was DLSU’s first men’s title since 2008 and fourth since joining the league. Overall, the Taft-based school owns 10 titles, counting the women’s team’s collection. The Lady Archers will attempt a double-celebration as they go for a three-peat against University of Santo Tomas on Friday.

“After four years, we finally won another men’s title and against NU at that. NU hadn’t lost a single tournament since the pre-season whereas we didn’t win any title before the UAAP. But they (Archers) delivered in the most important one,” said Kraut, whose team swept the 10-game elims en route to an outright title berth plus twice-to-beat edge.

La Salle took the first two singles matches in the best-of-five tie, with eventual MVP Marlon Basco wiping out NU’s Noel Tim Polero, 6-0, 6-0, and Alberto Lorenzo Villamor taking out Al Khady Jainul, 6-4, 6-2.

But NU, making its debut in the tennis tourney backed by Dunlop Fort Elite 3, stayed alive in the two doubles, courtesy of Al Michael Madrio and Fritz Verdad’s 7-6 (3), 6-1 drubbing of Pemrik Alina and Kyle Cordero, and Dheo Talatayod and Wilson Oblea’s 6-4, 6-3 beating of Ed Louise Amor and Juan Fidel Regis.

Despite the loss, NU coach Karl Santamaria considered the bridesmaid finish an achievement and a learning experience for his rookie-laden crew.

“Who would have known we’d be here giving them a hard time and almost winning? We pushed them to a deciding match, we won the first set and we’re controlling the second. But for me the difference was inexperience in these situations. Credit to La Salle, they showed their experience today,” he said.

In the women’s division, the Tigresses nipped University of the Philippines in a playoff, 3-2, to seize the second and last berth to the finals against DLSU. The Lady Archers, who went 6-0 in the elims, carry twice-to-beat advantage in the finale.

UST got its victories from Zaza Paulino, 4-6,7-5,6-0 winner over Rebecca Fabregas; Dianne Bautista and Chrizanth Helar, 6-1, 7-6(6) victor over Melissa de los Reyes and Creslita Gulosino; and April Santos and Hazel Grecia, 7-5, 7-6 (4) conqueror of JV Custodio and Medeline Ramos.