Tigresses claw Lady Warriors

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Dec 14th 2013

University of Santo Tomas (UST) overcome a bumpy start before settling on cruise control towards the end Saturday to gain a share of second place in the 76^th UAAP women's volleyball tournament at the San Juan Arena.

Growling behind the heads-up plays of Mela Tunay and rookie Marivic Meneses, the Tigresses swept University of the East (UE), 25-22, 25-16, 25-15, to tie Far Eastern University and National University at 2-1.

Tunay led UST with 14 points anchored on 11 hits, two blocks, and an ace while Meneses added 11. Pam Lastimosa and Jem Gutierrez combined for 14 markers to offset the so-so performance of Jessey de Leon, who is still not yet a hundred percent and is recuperating from an injury.

Overall, the Tigresses fired 38 kills against just 22 for the Lady Warriors, who relied heavily on Shaya Adorador on the attacking end.

Adorador wound up with ten points to become the only Lady Warrior in double figures. Again UE's veterans failed to show up despite catching UST napping several times in the opening frame with the Tigresses leading by just 11-8.

But as soon as UST got its rhythm in the second canto with a 16-10 lead, UE hardly mounted a serious challenge, lapsing into costly fielding and receiving errors, en route to its third straight setback in as many assignments.

UE skipper Sarina Bulan failed to break UST's defensive wall over the net, yanking out with just three points to show.