The University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons struggled defensively with both men’s and women’s teams succumbing to the UST Golden Tigers in the UAAP Season 86 Collegiate Volleyball Tournament on Wednesday, April 10, at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena.
The men’s team still failed to bring a victory home to Diliman while the women’s squad is now ultimately denied of booking a semifinal berth.
Missing groove
The UP Men’s Volleyball Team (UP MVT) has yet to find their rhythm after a 25-13, 25-22, 25-21 thrashing from semifinals-seeking UST Golden Spikers.
Louis Gamban sends a spike towards the Golden Spikers. Photo by Marga Villena
UP’s defense dimmed as they tallied 18 and 13 excellent digs and sets, respectively— a notable shortfall versus UST’s 30 and 20.
Shrugging off a sluggish first set, the maroon shirts came with a surprise at the second, as exemplified by Jaivee Malabanan’s off-the-block kill that deflated UST’s lead to one, 21-20.
But the yellow and gold kept pushing through as Gboy De Vega’s back-to-back attack conversions cruised UST to another set win.
The third set followed the same synopsis with UP’s late chase, 24-21, not so long before a Dux Yambao-Kenneth Salvador connection in the middle quashed all UP’s upset ambitions.
The loss pushed State U’s season loss tally to 11 while bolstering UST’s Final Four hopes.
While the two squads almost equally benefited from each other’s mishaps, State U materially lacked attack conversions — 37 compared to UST’s 50.
Previous games’ saviors Angelo Lagando and Malabanan combined with 22 points, stepping up for Gamban’s tame five-point output.
On the other hand, Josh Ybañez exploded with 23 points from 21 attacks, while De Vega engineered 13 markers.
Chances denied
The playoff hopes of the UP Women’s Volleyball Team (UP WVT) were completely scratched away as they took a four-set loss from the UST Golden Tigresses, 14-25, 13-25, 30-28, 15-25.
A 32-22 advantage in excellent receptions was not enough to cover the offensive struggles of the Fighting Maroons as the España-based squad dominated in all scoring departments, digs (28-56), and sets (13-21).
State U also faced the Tigresses in the absence of UST’s super rookie Angge Poyos, who notched 22 markers in their first-round encounter.
The service error from UST’s Cassie Carballo to open the game was the only moment the Lady Maroons gained the advantage in the first set as the Tigresses later built an overwhelming 12-24 lead coming off their high-octane attacks.
A spark for a comeback courtesy of two successive hits from UP’s Pling Baclay and Jewel Encarnacion, was thwarted after a misfire from Baclay’s serve sealed the opening frame.
Defensive cracks from State U’s side continued throughout the match until the maroon shirts finally found their scoring spark to generate a 5-1 run with a Heart Magsombol block in the third frame.
A back-and-forth affair ensued between the two squads before Nica Celis hit a crosscourt kill to put UP at set point. This, however, was immediately followed by a Regine Jurado spike to tie the set at 24-all.
Middle blocker Niña Ytang put the Lady Maroons up front twice during the extended play before back-to-back kills from Steph Bustrillo and Encarnacion finally snatched the set in their favor.
However, UP failed to ride the momentum coming into the fourth set as they found themselves in an early six-point deficit. Ytang and Bustrillo were able to trim the lead to 5-9, with errors on the side of the Tigresses being another lifeline for State U to inch closer.
The Lady Maroons’ hopes of replicating their third set magic were ultimately severed as the España squad’s offense reawakened to close the match with a 10-4 run.
Two Lady Maroons crossed the double-digit threshold in scoring as Ytang produced 14 points composed of 12 attacks and two blocks, while Bustrillo tallied 10 with nine attacks and an ace.
Meanwhile, Jonna Perdido chalked up a career-high 24 markers.
Despite being knocked out of the Final Four race, the WVT look forward to shaking up the standings with their remaining games as they face Adamson University at 2 p.m. on April 13 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
Meanwhile, the MVT will have their match against the Falcons at 10 a.m. on the same date and venue.
