'Gold standard' Lady Spikers cement UAAP women's volleyball dominance

MANILA, Philippines -- Champions three years running now and proud owner of not one, not two, but three "three-peat" feats in the past 15 years, the La Salle Lady Spikers remain the gold standard for UAAP women's volleyball supremacy.

The Lady Spikers put the finishing touches to yet another successful campaign with a deserved 26-24, 25-20, 26-24 dispatching of challenger Far Eastern University Wednesday in Game Two of the Season 80 finals at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The triumph, pulled off in front of a 14,018-strong crowd, extended La Salle's current reign to a third year, allowed them to match their grand slams in 2003-05 and 2011-13, and hiked its overall collection to 11 titles.

"Every season nagpre-prepare kami, kung merong opportunity na dumating katulad ngayon, hindi na namin binibitawan (Every season,we just prepare hard and if an opportunity arises, we'll grab it)," said coach Ramil de Jesus, the architect of DLSU's proven program.

Graduating veterans Kim Kianna Dy, Majoy Baron and Dawn Macandili played their hearts out, doing everything in their capacity to win points for DLSU in the title-clincher.

Dy topscored with 19 points, dropping 11 in the opening set to help the Lady Spikers steal it after trailing at 21-24, while Baron and Tin Tiamzon added 10 apiece, and Macandili had 21 excellent digs and eight excellent receptions.

"Our mindset was it's still a do-or-die game because if we lose this, FEU will get their chance," said Dy, who had 16 attacks and two blocks.

For keeping countless balls alive, Macandili was named Finals MVP, which surprised the fifth-year libero from Tanauan.

"Sobrang surprised, hindi ko ineexpect na mag Finals MVP kasi non-scoring ako (I'm a non-scoring player so this came as a surprise)," said Macandili. "Everytime I step into the court, iniisip ko lang paano makatulong sa team at paano sila ma-motivate (I'm just thinking of ways to help the team and motivate them) being one of the seniors)."

Bernadeth Pons bounced back from a nine-point output in Game One with 17 markers this time, along with 15 excellent digs and the same number of excellent receptions, but failed to save the season for the Lady Tams, who were in the finals for the first time in nine years.

"Very proud ako sa players, up to the last breath nila, lumaban sila, hindi sila bumitaw (I'm very proud of the players for fighting til their last breath)," said FEU coach George Pascua.

The Lady Tams lost the first set by allowing DLSU to score with five unanswered points in the windup then they were undone by nine errors in the second.

La Salle seemed to cruise in the third when it seized a 16-11 lead but FEU mounted a final uprising and caught up at 24-all before Dy put the Lady Spikers on the hill again with an off-speed shot and Tiamzon sealed it with a well-placed hit.