MANILA, Philippines – Cherry Rondina and EJ Laure came up with clutch hits in the second and third sets to tow University of Santo Tomas (UST) past University of the East (UE), 25-9, 25-22, 25-23, in the UAAP Season 79 women's volleyball tournament on Wednesday at the Arena in San Juan.

It is only the first victory of the Tigresses, who dropped their first two assignments of the season against Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University.

Laure and Rondina had 12 points each, while middle blocker Ria Meneses led the Tigresses with 13 points. UST, as a team, scored 39 attack points to only 16 for the Lady Warriors.

• READ: Pamilar gets first win in return to UAAP

The Tigresses easily took the opening set, with UE not even breaching double-digits. They appeared to be cruising to victory in the second set as well when they took a 20-13 advantage off an error by UE setter Roselle Baliton.

The Lady Warriors, however, responded with a 7-1 exchange, pouncing on attacking errors by the Tigresses and using their height to convert over-received balls. Back-to-back aces by back-up setter Laizah Bendong tied the set for the first time at 21.

She came up with a service error to start the next rally to send the lead back to UST, but Meanne Mendrez scored on a down-the-line kill to knot the frame at 22.

That was when Laure took over. The former Rookie of the Year scored three straight attack points to power the Tigresses to victory.

In a back-and-forth third set, UE appeared close to forcing an extension as they maintained a two-point advantage after the second technical timeout. This time around, however, it was Rondina who took charge down the stretch, as the UST skipper scored back-to-back kills to give her team a 23-22 advantage.

A double-contact violation on Bendong put UST at match point, 24-22. Jasmine Alcayde's power tip allowed UE to save one match point, but Rondina would not be denied as her final attack bounced off the arms of the UE blockers for the victory.

No UE player scored in double figures, although the Lady Warriors had more blocks, 5-4, and more aces, 10-7, than the Tigresses. However, they still had trouble translating their good first balls into points as they connected on only 16 of 88 spike attempts.

The Lady Warriors dropped to 0-3 to remain the only winless team in the Season 79 tournament.

For more sports coverage, visit the ABS-CBN Sports website.