Thea Gagate scattered 27 points to power La Salle to a thrilling, 25-16, 18-25, 25-23, 22-25, 15-8, victory over Adamson and into the the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship Finals late Friday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The third year middle blocker ignited the Lady Spikers’ fifth set fightback after going down 0-3 to forge an exciting winner-take-all title showdown against unbeaten National University on Nov. 19 in a rematch of UAAP Season 84 Finals.
“We just held on. We’re really determined to get back at them and win this game,” said Gagate, who hammered 18 attacks, tallied five kill blocks and landed four aces.
Earlier, NU defeated University of Santo Tomas, 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-17, in the other semifinals pairing to move a win away from adding another feather to its cap.
The Lady Falcons, who swept La Salle in the second round, opened the deciding set with three straight points following a strong fourth frame finish.
Gagate put the Lady Spikers on the scoreboard with a quick kill that sparked a 9-2 rally capped by a Baby Jyne Soreno ace for a 9-5 lead as momentum swung in La Salle’s favor.
Another four-point spurt put the Lady Spikers up, 13-7, before Rizza Cruz stopped Adamson’s bleeding with a kill.
Alleiah Malaluan pushed La Salle at match point with an off the block kill before Cruz sent her attack long that ended the gripping two-hour, 13-minute match.
Rookie Angel Canino got 20 points including 17 attacks while Malaluan scored all but one of her 12 markers on spikes for the Lady Spikers, who are looking to avenge their UAAP championship series loss to the Lady Bulldogs last June.
