La Salle Lady Spikers destroys Ateneo for 11th straight win since 2017

The La Salle Lady Spikers would rather ignore the victories they collected in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball just to keep their happiness-which is their biggest enemy right now.

They will try hard, especially with the confidence of the Lady Spikers to rise on Sunday after disposing of Ateneo 25-16, 25-20, 25-13 as La Salle remained unscathed as they took solo lead in the preliminaries. house a lot of green and blue in the Mall of Asia Arena.

“We’re not looking for it [at the record] even if we are above. We are alone [want to] keep doing what we’re doing, one game at a time,” La Salle interim coach Noel Ocullo said.

The Lady Spikers improved to 3-0, with this latest victory over their bitter rival making it 11 in a row dating back to Season 79 in 2017—the longest by either side in the storied rivalry.

“I always warn the players not to be overconfident. [To] just stick to the system and apply it correctly every game,” added Ocullo.

But don’t be surprised if the team’s confidence is high, especially the rookie Angel Canino, who, for the third game in a row, has done wonders for La Salle.

A prolific freshman

Showing maturity beyond his years, Canino impressively pierced the Ateneo defense 21 times to finish with 23 points, eight of them coming in the opening frame where the Lady Spikers set the tone of defeat.

“This match is different. I feel the pressure, but I don’t want to be affected. I just like my teammates out there,” said Canino, who also had nine digs, one block and an ace.

Jolina dela Cruz’s composure was also high, scoring 13 points with 10 kills while Thea Gagate underlined her length in net with 10 points.

“Of course, credit to all of us. We were able to do what we trained for, but I’m still not satisfied with my performance,” said Gagate.

costly miscues

Starting strong, the Lady Spikers hardly gave the Lady Blue Eagles room to operate with Canino, Dela Cruz and Mereophe Sharma picking the right spots in the attack.

Faith Nisperos pulled Ateneo within five, but hounded miscues before Dela Cruz’s crosscourt spike closed out the first set.

“We have to be confident as a team and work hard. At the moment, we will have the confidence we need,” said Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro, who absorbed his seventh straight loss against La Salle, cheering for the Blue Eagles.

Canino and Gagate again set the table in the second set, leading La Salle to an early five-point advantage on various attacks. The squad held off the attack in an efficient and merciless manner on almost every occasion.

La Salle’s mistakes allowed the Blue Eagles to go back and fight back, but Sharma, Dela Cruz and Gagate made it back up the order.

“It’s a never-ending learning cycle and today’s game shows we have to work harder,” Nisperos said after finishing with 11 points and 11 digs for the Blue Eagles, who were shot twice in three games.

Nisperos cut it to 24-20 with a spike that Gagate blocked before hitting the aerial, but a service error by Ateneo’s Kiara Cruz hastened the fall.

La Salle’s strategy was almost unalterable in the final set where the Lady Spikers easily built an eight-point spread and just went through a sweep of their rivals.

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