Green Spikers in firm position to make Final Four

c/o UAAP Media Team

UAAP Season 87 Men’s Volleyball Standings

Team W-L
FEU 9-1
NU 8-2
UST 7-4
DLSU 7-4
Ateneo 6-5
UP 3-7
AdU 2-8
UE 0-11

Games Sunday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum

9 a.m. - FEU vs UP (Men)
11 a.m. - NU vs AdU (Men)
1 p.m. - FEU vs UP (Women)
3 p.m. - NU vs AdU (Women)

De La Salle University needed to withstand a tough stand from also-ran University of the East to complete the straight-sets win, 30-28, 25-16, 25-22, and stay in the thick of the UAAP Season 87 Men’s Volleyball Final Four race on Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Green Spikers raised their record to 7-4 to tie the earlier game’s winner, the UST Golden Spikers, for third to fourth spots. The Golden Spikers earlier topped Ateneo, 26-24, 25-17, 25-22, for their third straight victory.

“Happy naman talaga ako kasi we’re expecting na even if UE low rank, we expect na lalaban sila pero sabi ko sa team ko, we really need to balance ‘yung tao kasi mahaba pa ang liga, kapag mababad ‘yung starters ko baka sa dulo mahirapan kaya sabi ko sa bench, prepare yourselves kasi kayo dapat ang mag balanse niyan,” said La Salle head coach Jose Roque, who utilized all 14 players.  

(“I’m really happy because we were expecting that even if UE is lower-ranked, they would still put up a fight. But I told my team that we really need to manage our players well because the tournament is still long. If I overuse my starters, we might struggle later on, so I told the bench players to prepare themselves because they’re the ones who need to provide that balance.")

The Green Spikers led 19-16 and 24-22 in the opening set, but the Red Warriors persevered through Roy Piojo and Xjhann Camaymayan to even stretch the set to 28-all.

But back-to-back errors by Piojo, at the service line, and Raquim Aceron from the attack line, gave La Salle the tight first set.

That set up the dominant second period by the Green Spikers before holding sway in the third for the win after one hour and 24 minutes.

Noel Kampton led 11 La Salle players in the scoring column with 13 points, while Nathaniel Del Pilar and MJ Fortuna chipped in eight and seven points, respectively, in two sets played.

Rookie Chris Hernandez also impressed with six points, eight excellent receptions, and seven excellent digs in two sets of action.

La Salle will seek a third consecutive win on April 13 when it battles University of the Philippines at the same venue.

Meanwhile, UE remained winless after 11 games. They will finish their campaign against National University, UST, and Ateneo de Manila University in that order.

Piojo, a rookie out of Iloilo, spearheaded the Red Warriors’ effort with 14 points, while Camaymayan added 11 points.

Aceron, also a rookie, had nine points and 17 excellent receptions.