La Salle displaying form that netted multiple championships

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Thea Gagate (above) and the La Salle front line are hoping to dominate the net more after their excellent performance in the win against the University of the East. – UAAP MEDIA.

The old power is slowly retreating, but a promising young squad will steal the limelight.

La Salle continued to tighten its grip on the top spot as Adamson proved its mettle by taking down streak-killing University of Santo Tomas (UST) midway through the first round of the UAAP Season 85 volleyball tournament.

And to prove their seriousness as a threat this season, neither the Lady Spikers nor the Lady Falcons were satisfied with their early success.

For La Salle, the start of the challenge to beat the winless University of the East (UE) is worrying.

“We are very satisfied,” La Salle interim coach Noel Orcullo said, after the 25-20, 25-21, 25-14 victory gave his team their fourth win in as many games. “That’s what I said in the last game. If you don’t respect your opponent, there’s a chance they’ll beat you.”

Adamson was more dominant in his third win in four games for his second solo game.

a must-win game

The Lady Falcons defeated the Tigresses, 25-15, 25-17, 25-19, in a surprising result as UST pulled off a thrilling five-set win over defending champion National University (NU) that ended the Lady Bulldogs. ‘ 20-game winning streak.

But Adamson coach Jerry Yee said the team’s progress does not mean anything if the Lady Falcons fail to press against other contenders-including the La Salle team looking ready to restore the old order.

“There are still games to win,” Yee said. “If we can take the victory from the top four that counts [teams of the tournament]advisable.”

“We have beaten UST, who won against NU. Unfortunately, we lost against NU, but we will have a cushion in the second round if we beat other contenders such as La Salle and Ateneo,” added Yee, whose Lady Falcons recently trailed the Lady Bulldogs to a five-setter which is pleasant.before giving.

Adamson has the ingredients to achieve this, thanks to the steady performances of Trisha Tubu, Kate Santiago and Rizza Cruz lately, along with Lucille Almonte and Lorence Toring.

“We carefully studied the opponent and made a plan on how to attack efficiently,” said Santiago, who paced the UST defense with 11 attacks for 13 points.

Tubu also finished with 13 points, punctuated by a quick kill in the final set that ended the Tigresses’ hopes. Cruz added 12 points with four blocks and Almonte had 10 points.

“We’re really prepared for this game. We’ve watched (UST’s game against NU) and we’re doing special training for this game,” Cruz said. “We’re happy with the win, but we all know there’s still room for improvement. ”

Beefing up the record

Thea Gagate was at the forefront of La Salle’s defense at the net, collecting five of her team’s 15 total blocks en route to 13 points.

Gagate gave the Lady Spikers an edge at the net, but that was the only advantage Orcullo felt the team could use more offensively.

“I’m not satisfied because we can do more with height. As you can see from the difference in height, we can dominate the other front lines. But UE scored more attacks with 10 points,” said Orcullo.

UE scored 40 points on offense against La Salle’s 30.

La Salle won six of the nine titles before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, but lost to a perfect NU squad in last season’s finals. However, like Adamson, La Salle is not resting on its laurels today and will look to improve its record to close out the first round.

“It’s still a long way for us. “This tournament is long, so we can’t be satisfied even after winning,” said Orcullo. “Even if we are on top, we have to keep training and improve every game. We have to polish everything going into the second half.