The UST Golden Tigresses celebrate a point against the UE Lady Warriors in their UAAP Season 85 women's volleyball match. UAAP Media.
MANILA (UPDATED) -- The University of Santo Tomas needed to recover from a shock loss in the first set before overwhelming the University of the East in four frames on Saturday at the FilOil EcOil Centre in San Juan.
The Tigresses got their act together in the second set to pull off a 30-32, 25-18, 25-16, 25-14 triumph that gave them a 5-2 record at the end of the first round in the UAAP Season 85 women's volleyball tournament.
It was UST's third win in a row. The Lady Warriors, meanwhile, fell to 0-7 as they remain the only winless team in the tournament.
"Pinaalala ko lang din sa teammates ko na respetuhin natin lagi ang kalaban," UST skipper Eya Laure said after the match. "'Yung intensity, kailangan namin mas higitan pa, at 'wag naming sabayan [ang kalaban]."
Laure earned Player of the Game honors after scoring 18 points, including the match-winning kill. She had three of UST's 10 blocks in the match, on top of a service ace. Three other UST players reached double-digits, with Regina Jurado scoring 13, Milena Alessandrini adding 12, and Imee Hernandez contributing 10 points.
The Tigresses were up 16-6 in the opening set before the Lady Warriors made their move, pouncing on UST's errors and their second-stringers to steal the win.
But UST recovered in Set 2 with Hernandez and KC Galdones asserting themselves at the net. The Lady Warriors couldn't keep up with the Tigresses' offense the rest of the way, while also committing miscues of their own that gave free points to the spikers from España.
UE wound up committing 36 unforced errors to UST's 31. Ja Lana led the Lady Warriors with 13 points but they managed just 35 kills to 51 for the Tigresses.