La Salle extends its winning run to 10 in women’s volleyball following a 25-22, 25-18, 25-18 win over UE today. Michele Gumabao led all scorers with 11 points followed by Cha Cruz with 9.

The Lady Spikers played just hard enough to win against UE today. They were not particularly sharp, and even allowed UE to take the lead, but bore down towards the end of each of the 3 sets to take the win comfortably. The team takes an 8-day break before taking on a UST team, which stretched the Lady Spikers to 5 sets before the Lady Spikers again pulled through late in the game.

Let’s hope that the Lady Spikers maintain their edge and focus over this long break. UST is starting to peak and will be dangerous; they handed Ateneo their 2nd loss last week. Coach Ramil has stated that he wants the Lady Spikers to prepare against the teams that gave them a hard time in the first round. In their 2nd round match, the Lady Spikers easily handled ADU which had taken a set in the first round. FEU, which stretched the Lady Spikers to a nerve-wracking 5 sets in their first matchup, also failed to get a set in their game last Wednesday. Of course, FEU was without Morada, who was instrumental in helping FEU compete on even terms in the 3rd and 4th sets. Those 2 comfortable wins over playoff contenders ADU and FEU are good indicators of the ability of the Lady Spikers to learn from their earlier matches.

Our team is starting to peak, there is a noticeable improvement in performance of individual players as well as in the teamwork on the floor. Our players feature prominently in almost all important statistics, although no one is dominating the numbers because the load is being shared across the team. That in itself is an indication of the multi-faceted capabilities of the team on both offense and defense. But it’s probably in the mental toughness that our team has shown significant improvement, in their ability to withstand the best that the opponents have been able to dish out, take control of the match, and out-steady the opponents with the game on the line. The girls don’t buckle under pressure,  that should be bad news for the other title pretenders.

The Lady Spikers formalize their entry in the UAAP Volleyball Final Four as they romped to an effortless win over FEU today 25-10, 25-18, 25-20.

The result was a far cry from their first round encounter where it went five sets.

Rookie Ara Galang led the Lady Spikers with 14 points followed by Cha Cruz with 13.

La Salle remains undefeated in the tournament at 9-0. They go for win number 10 this Saturday against UE.

The Lady Spikers had it quite easy this time.

Led by Captain Cha Cruz’s 18 points, La Salle defeated Adamson 25-20, 25-18, 25-22 yesterday to start the second round of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament.

The team cruised through the first two sets but they had to climb from a 6-point deficit towards the end of the third set to close out the game. Though they committed 23 errors in this match, this is already a big improvement from the 44 they had against UST last week.

Next opponent will be FEU this coming Wednesday. La Salle escaped with a 5-set thriller against this team in the first round. The Lady Tams are currently at third after defeating NU in the other match yesterday.

The Lady Spikers are not ready to lose just yet.

Behind team captain Cha Cruz, De La Salle overcame a determined challenge by the UST Tigresses to escape with a come-from-behind 5-set victory today 20-25, 25-22, 16-25, 25-19, 17-15.

With the win, the Lady Spikers finish the first round of eliminations undefeated at 7-0. They also extend their mastery over the Tigresses since losing to them in the finals two years ago.

Cruz finished the game with 17 points, 16 attacks and 1 service ace while Abigail Marano added 18 points and 5 blocks. Both players were instrumental in the team’s comeback trail in the deciding set wherein they erased a 6-point deficit to clinch the win.

In a rematch of last year’s finals, both squads fought tooth and nail throughout the match. The Tigresses appeared to have things in control after taking a 2-1 set and with the momentum clearly in their favor. But the Lady Spikers simply refused to give up as they mounted a furious finish in the 4th set.

However, with fatigue setting in, they started flat in the final set as UST erected an early 7-1 lead. Luckily, the team showed tremendous resolve down the stretch to tie the count at 13-all.

With the score still tied at 15, UST committed a costly error paving the way for La Salle to seal the game.

The game would probably not have been this close if not for the 44 errors committed by the Lady Spikers.  This is one area that needs to be addressed come the second round.

The team showed a lot of heart today. They have been in this situation so many times. Even when they are pushed to the brink, they always seem to find a way to win.

Led by Abigail Maraño’s 15 points, the Lady Spikers easily defeated UE today in straight sets, 25-18, 25-14, 25-18. Maraño also finished the game with 11 spikes and 3 blocks.

With the win, La Salle will enter the holiday break undefeated for the third straight year. The team returns to action on January 8 against UST in a rematch of last year’s finals. The Lady Spikers are one win away from sweeping the first round.

In the men’s division, the Green Spikers will be going up against NU tomorrow and Ateneo on Dec 21 right before the break. They are currently at fourth place with a 2-2 record.

The Lady Spikers nail their 5th straight win in as many games as they trounced UP today in straight sets, 25-16, 25-17, 25-22.

It was not an easy victory for the team as the Lady Maroons put up a gallant effort especially in the third set. In fact, all of the sets started close but down the stretch, La Salle just has too much firepower for UP to handle.

Cha Cruz had another superb performance with 19 points, including 7 service aces.

La Salle is just two wins away from sweeping the first round. They will next face UE this Saturday before taking a break for the holidays. The Lady Maroons remain winless this season.

The bad news though is that the team may have to go on without prized-rookie Camille Cruz. It was reported that she is already out for the season after suffering a suspected ACL injury in their last game against FEU.

The Lady Spikers maintain their unblemished record as they turned back a feisty FEU squad in 5 grueling sets today 25-22, 25-15, 23-25, 23-25, 15-11.

Abigail Maraño had a monster game for La Salle, scoring 21 points and had 3 blocks. Michelle Gumabao added 18 points for the Lady Spikers, who improved their mark to 4-0.

All of their wins so far were against teams that are considered as final four contenders. They are expected to have an easier time in their next two games against UE and UP before the holiday break.