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| c/o UAAP Media Team |
Games Sunday at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum
9 a.m. - UE vs UP (Men)
11 a.m. - NU vs FEU (Men)
1 p.m. - UE vs UP (Women)
3 p.m. - NU vs FEU (Women)
Battling through pain and adversity, Angel Canino delivered a season-high performance to will De La Salle University past University of Santo Tomas in a thrilling 15-25, 25-17, 24-26, 25-20, 16-14 victory in the UAAP Season 87 Women’s Volleyball Tournament second round, Saturday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Refusing to back down despite her struggles, including an inadvertent knee of an out-of-balanced Shevana Laput to her head early in the fourth, Canino led the Lady Spikers in snapping a four-game losing streak against the Golden Tigresses, who had dominated them since Season 86—including a five-setter in the first round, 25-12, 22-25, 13-25, 25-23, 15-13.
The Season 85 rookie MVP left it all on the court with 27 points, including two blocks, 13 digs, and 13 receptions.
After the final whistle, the former MVP bowed down to the ground in relief and exhaustion before being rushed to the Makati Medical Center.
“Actually, after the game syempre emotional. Actually, naapektuhan din siya nung [natamaan] siya ni Shevana sa batok, medyo nahilo, parang nahihilo so yun nga after the game although naging emotional, before pa sinasabi na sa amin na si Angel medyo hindi maganda ‘yung ano so kinuha agad nung PT namin and doctor namin,” said De La Salle deputy Noel Orcullo after the two-hour, 44-minute marathon, providing an update on Canino's condition.
"Hopefully, maging maayos, hindi naman maging malala ‘yung naging tama sa kanya."
(“Actually, after the game, of course, it was emotional. Actually, she was also affected when Shevana hit her in the neck; she got a bit dizzy, like she was feeling lightheaded. So yeah, after the game, although she became emotional, even before that, she was telling us that Angel wasn’t feeling well, so our PT and doctor immediately took care of her. Hopefully, it will be okay, and it won’t be anything serious.")
A successful challenge by UST coach Kungfu Reyes that saw the finger of Lilay Del Castillo grazing the ball spiked by Angge Poyos put the Golden Tigresses at a 2-1 set advantage, 26-24.
But Alleiah Malaluan, Amie Provido, and Canino willed La Salle in the fourth stanza to force a decider.
Then in the fifth, the two sides literally just changed points up until 14 all.
Shevana Laput’s back-to-back hits on a backrow kill and a solid block on Poyos gave the Lady Spikers the match point at 14-13 but Regina Jurado knotted the game anew with a solid off-the-block hit.
Laput, who had been giving power hits throughout the set, bluffed the blockers with an off-speed hit for another match point for La Salle then Provido clinched the game by closing the crosscourt angle of Jurado for the emotional triumph.
“Sabi nga namin sa mga bata umpisa pa lang, gustuhin niyo manalo, ito labanan ng puso. Yan yung lagi naming sinasabi sa kanila na hindi pupwedeng papasok tayo sa loob na ang umiiral sa atin ‘yung takot,” said Orcullo.
("As we always tell the kids from the start, you may want to win, but this is a battle of the heart. That's what we always remind them, that we can't go in there with fear leading us.")
“This has been a long time coming. This is something we’ve been wanting ever since last year. This is a big hugot for us. I’m proud of us for getting through this,” said Laput, who had 16 points on 15 attacks and a block.
Prior to victory, La Salle’s most recent conquest against UST was on May 3, 2023, 26-24, 25-22, 20-25, 25-19, to advance to the Season 85 Finals.
With this grind-out victory, the Lady Spikers improved to 6-3 to join the FEU Lady Tamaraws at second to third with the former holding the tiebreak due to their first round win against the latter, heating up the race for twice-to-beat slot in the Final Four
UST dropped to 5-4, just a game ahead of Ateneo and University of the Philippines in the race for the No. 4 slot. The Golden Tigresses absorbed their third straight loss.
Provido ended up with 12 points including four blocks while Malaluan made 10 points in the win that La Salle dominated the spiking (63-55) and service department, 7-0, to atone for its 38 errors, 13 more than UST.
Mikole Reyes also shone with 26 excellent sets and four points while Lyka De Leon notched 23 receptions and nine digs.
La Salle will next face archrival Ateneo de Manila University on Wednesday still at the Big Dome.
UST will look to stop its slide when it faces struggling Adamson University on Wednesday.
Jurado led the Tigresses with 22 points and 14 digs, while Angge Poyos struggled with just 12 points on 12-of-41 attacking clip.
Cassie Carballo still netted 27 excellent sets and four points while Detdet Pepito had 21 receptions and 22 digs.
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