By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers pulled off a gutsy five-set win over the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, 18-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-21, 15-13, during the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball grand finals, last May 7, 2023, held at the SMART Araneta Coliseum.
After going down 0-1 when the Lady Bulldogs got hot in the first set, the Lady Spikers maintained their composure and completed a wild comeback win to move on the cusp of their 12th overall UAAP women’s volleyball championship title.
Angel Canino proved she is worthy of the Most Valuable Player (MVP) praises from the crowd as DLSU’s super rookie dropped an impressive 21-point performance including the crucial spike kills in the end game.
It was an Alyssa Solomon hitting exhibition in the first set as the veteran outside spiker racked up her scores when she found a way to sneak through DLSU’s signature middle blocking.
Unlike their offensive approach in their two regular-season battles with the Lady Spikers, the Lady Bulldogs made huge adjustments and decided to vary their attack which paid off dividends.
However, soon as Canino found her footing in the second set, DLSU slowly regained their rhythm and finally executed their sets.
DLSU’s chief mentor, coach Ramil de Jesus, also countered NU’s adjustments when she ordered her wards to target certain people every time they were given the chance to serve the ball.
Despite DLSU’s middle blocking not working effectively, the Lady Spikers still found a way to dig deep and exerted more effort in their floor defense, a thing that was missing during their opening set loss.
The nip-and-tuck affair then reached a deciding fifth set with the Lady Bulldogs quickly drawing first blood. In response, the Lady Spikers turned to Canino who answered the call and scored a fantastic drop ball to give the lead back to DLSU.
Both squads traded scores and weren’t able to control the tempo of the match until a crucial service error from NU awarded them a free point and a two-point advantage, 13-11.
With DLSU only needing two points to seal the Game 1 win, Canino provided the goods that gave them the match point capped off by an error from NU.
“Masaya nakuha namin yung Game 1 kahit papaano pinaghirapan. Siguro talagang ginusto ng mga bata manalo since we’re down two sets to one, fourth set kinapitan hanggang fifth set,” said DLSU interim head coach Noel Orcullo.
