By CARLO ANOLIN
La Salle stayed sharp and shut down Eya Laure and University of Santo Tomas, 25-23, 25-17, 22-25, 25-8, in the UAAP Season 84 women’s volleyball tournament Thursday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Leila Cruz had a breakout game of 15 points built on 13 spikes and two blocks as four other Lady Spikers scored in double-digits to improve to an 8-3 record – enough to grab solo second.
UST slipped to 7-4.
More than that, La Salle avenged its 26-24, 22-25, 25-27, 25-23, 15-12 defeat to the España-based squad that saw Laure explode for 28 points.
Defense proved vital for La Salle this time as the Lady Spikers held Laure to a season-low of eight points.
Fifi Sharma and Thea Gagate added 13 points apiece while Jolina Dela Cruz and Alleiah Malaluan combined for 21 points.
Also shining for La Salle was Mars Alba who made 25 excellent sets apart from her lone point.
Earlier, University of the Philippines snapped ia two-game skid with a 25-10, 25-19, 25-7 drubbing of the already ran Far Eastern University to keep its Final Four hopes alive.
The Lady Spikers also capitalized on the 31 points given up by the Tigresses off errors, especially in the fourth set where the Espana-based squad completely lost steam and eventually crumbled. After dropping the third set, De La Salle led by as many as 11 points in the fourth frame, 16-5, to reach the second technical timeout with a sigh of relief capped by a Sharma soft tip.
The Lady Spikers never looked back at that point and limited the Tigresses, who slid to third place with a 7-4 slate, to only three points in the ensuing plays en route to the sweet revenge.
