La Salle targets no.8 vs. Ateneo

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Jan 19th 2014

Perfect.

For three-peat champion De La Salle University, that word best describes the Lady Spikers’ campaign to end the first round of the 76th UAAP women’s volleyball tournament.

But La Salle is not yet over as the Lady Spikers gun for their eight straight victory today against Ateneo de Manila University to remain immaculately on top in the second round. 

The streaking Lady Spikers (7-0) battle the third-running Lady Eagles (5-2) in the 4 p.m. main game at the San Juan Arena.

La Salle is coming off a trouble-free 25-12, 25-18, 25-20 demolition of winless University of the East (UE) last Wednesday to grab its seventh straight win and sweep the first round.

Ara Galang, the league’s fourth leading scorer, emerged as the only Lady Spiker in double figures with 13 points, including 11 hits, to power La Salle. Yet the Lady Spikers’ dominance was undeniably in vogue as 11 of the 14 players fielded by coach Ramil de Jesus scored at least a point.

Despite their modest offensive touches, the Lady Spikers still ruled the attacks (36-24) and blocks (6-2) categories while tallying 25 points off UE’s turnovers.

Incidentally, Ateneo closed the first round with a 16-25, 20-25, 16-25 loss to the Lady Spikers 

What deemed to be a gut-wringer turned into a lopsided affair for the Lady Spikers who outplayed the Lady Eagles in almost every department - hits (30-23), blocks (12-4), and aces (7-6) - while getting 26 error points. 

Even Ateneo top gun Alyssa Valdez found it hard to pierce La Salle's defense as she wound up with just 11 points. The rest of the Lady Eagles failed to score in double figures.

More than La Salle, Ateneo needs this victory to keep pace with second-placer National University which currently holds a 7-1 card. A win by the Lady Eagles will keep them in third place but this time with a better 6-2 record to take a two-game lead over fourth-placer Far Eastern University (4-4).

The game will air live on ABS-CBN Sports+Action, BALLS HD 167 and uaapsports.tv with a same day replay at 11:30 p.m. on BALLS SkyCable channel 34/ Destiny Cable channel 36.