Lady Maroons trim Warriors in duel of ousted teams

MANILA, Philippines — University of the Philippines unleashed strong finishing kicks in the last three sets as it turned back University of the East, 14-25, 25-22, 25-23, 25-23, to check a slow start and an error-prone game in a battle of ousted teams in the UAAP season 80 women’s volleyball tournament at the Blue Eagle Gym on the Ateneo campus yesterday.

The Lady Maroons fumbled with 12 miscues to yield the first set but overcame deficits down the stretch in the last three frames to foil the Lady Warriors and finish their campaign with a 6-8 card.

UP thus followed up on its huge upsets of National University and Ateneo to exit with three straights wins.

“We wanted to finish strong but today it wasn’t that strong. I was thinking of a straight-set win because of the way we’ve been playing but I’d like to say thank you to the UP fans. They’ve been with us when we were losing and when we were winning and I think in this game, they are the heroes and the players come in second,” said UP coach Godfrey Okumu of the highly partisan crowd as the Maroons faithful trooped to their neighboring school in Katipunan to cheer on their side to victory.

Isa Molde led UP’s charge with 19 points, including four in a stretch in the fourth that allowed them to erase a 17-20 deficit. Tots Carlos closed the match with back-to-back crosscourt hits for 14 points while Marian Buitre had three blocks and finished with 11 markers.

Graduating Shaya Adorador punched in the first set-clincher and collected 15 points in her last match for UE, Mary Mendrez contributed 13 points and Judith Abil posted 12.

The Lady Warriors finished their campaign with a 2-12 mark.

Hurt by their erratic outing, the Lady Maroons dropped the first set then battled back from 17-20, 16-21 and 17-20 deficits in the last three frames.

UP finished with 40 errors, 10 more than UE, but still pulled through as it edged the Lady Warriors in blocks, 9-6, attacks, 39-37, and aces, 11-10.