MANILA – University of the Philippines Lady Maroons became the inaugural champions of the Philippine Superliga Collegiate Grand Slam after a 25-21, 16-25, 25-23, 25-19 win over University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses on Thursday at the San Juan Arena.
Diana Carlos returned from injury to finish with 17 points, including 15 attacks, while rookie Nicole Magsarile and Maristela Layug added 11 and 10 markers, respectively, for the Lady Maroons.
Bacolodnon setter Ma. Arielle Estranero also had an impressive showing with 17 excellent sets to go along with four service aces for UP, which claimed their second preseason title after ruling the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference.
“We fought to the end and it worked,” Lady Maroons’ head coach Godfrey Okumu said. “Even when we were down, we kept reminding ourselves that we had to fight. That’s what we came here to do today.”
The Lady Maroons went toe-to-toe with the Golden Tigresses early in the first set. Trailing 17-20, UP went on a run to tie the scores at 20-all before completing the fight-back with conversions from Magsarile and Estranero.
After losing the second set, the Lady Maroons gained an early lead in the third set but were unable to sustain it toward a 23-all score. An error by the Golden Tigresses and a hit by Justine Dorog moved UP closer to the title.
UST opened the fourth frame with an 8-2 lead but UP quickly erased this to grab a 13-9 lead. Errors by the Golden Tigresses followed by hits from Carlos and Aishaleine Gannaban widened the Lady Maroons’ lead for good.
Ejiya Laure finished with 14 points while Milena Alessandrini added 13 markers for the Golden Tigresses, which swept all of their matches in the eliminations before suffering the loss in the final round.
Meanwhile, University of the East Lady Warriors saved the best for last as they crushed Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws 27-25, 25-23, 25-16 to clinch the bronze medal. Meann Mendrez finished with 16 points for the Lady Warriors./PN
