The De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers added another championship to their name after overpowering the Colegio de San Juan de Letran (Letran) Lady Knights in the Finals match of the 39th Kadayawan Women’s Invitational Volleyball Tournament at the University of Southeastern Philippines (USEP) Gym and Cultural Center earlier today.
With a flawless sweep of their previous matches in the tournament, the Lady Spikers capped off their campaign with a final decisive victory in three sets, 25–12, 25–16, 25–17. Their dominant performance secured yet another trophy and bolstered their pursuit of the UAAP Season 87 title.
Setting the tone of the championship match was Em Provido who initiated La Salle’s scoring with a direct attack to Letran’s open center. Both teams came out swinging with powerful attacks, but as the set progressed, La Salle unleashed their dominance in both blocking and offensive plays while Letran fought back with gritty floor defense, spearheaded by Lara Mae Silva, 8–5. Despite a few missteps, captain Angel Canino consistently turned the tide in her team’s favor and Letran’s errors further extended La Salle’s advantage to 21–9. As the Lady Knights struggled to translate their ball revival skills into effective offense, a service ace by Shane Reterta pushed La Salle further ahead to set point, 24–9. And despite a few mishaps in the dying parts of the set, the Lady Spikers ultimately secured the win after Verenicce Colendra committed a final attack error for Letran, 25–12.
Entering the second set, Jules Tolentino’s 1–2 play opened the scoring for the Lady Spikers this time, igniting a 4–0 run, while Letran continued to struggle with their offensive follow-through. Midway through the set, an exchange of errors allowed the Lady Knights to chip away at the lead, 14–7, but La Salle maintained a five-point cushion for most of the set, even showcasing Reterta and Gia Maquilang trading points to push the score to 19–14. A few plays later, a crucial attack error by Marie Nitura extended La Salle’s lead back to seven, 22–15, before an impressive save by Sheena Sarie then set the stage for an exciting rally, which culminated in a thunderous spike from Shevana Laput, 23–15. A dominant force throughout the tournament, Laput clinched the second set with a game-changing attack and a formidable block, eventually securing the set victory for La Salle, 25–16.
Despite Angelique Ledesma’s efforts to counter Lilay Del Castillo in the third and final set of the tournament, the latter’s sharp plays, along with Reterta, fueled a scoring surge for the Lady Spikers, extending their lead to 14–5 with powerful strikes. But Maquilang battled back for Letran, consistently challenging La Salle’s defense with relentless attacks and off-the-block hits, 15–8. Although the Lady Spikers experienced a brief loss of momentum due to errors, Laput quickly resolved the issue, even depite Colendra’s powerful attacks, 20–14. Following another error that led Coach RDJ to call a late timeout, Canino and Riane Cortez were present to retaliate with back-to-back kills, 23–16. Despite Maquilang’s best efforts to keep Letran in the game, an illegal attack gave La Salle the match point and a costly misset by Natalie Estreller finally sealed the championship for the Lady Spikers with a final score of 25–17.
Aside from the championship title, the DLSU Lady Spikers also took home three individual awards. Canino was hailed as the Tournament Best Attacker and the Most Valuable Player, and Provido was hailed as the Best Middle Blocker. Meanwhile, Laput rightfully took home the Best Server Award.
Sources:
DLSU Sports, Archers Network
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