By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The reigning and defending UAAP women’s volleyball queens are back.
Fresh off an impressive UAAP championship campaign, the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers showed no signs of slowing down after sweeping the Perpetual Lady Altas, 25-11, 25-17, 25-12, during the ongoing Shakey’s Super League National Invitationals last July 29, 2-23, held at the San Juan Arena.
It was a collective dominant effort from the Lady Spikers as four of their players ended the match with double-digit scoring performances.
UAAP’s reigning Best Middle Blocker Thea Gagate led the way for DLSU after tallying 12 points built from eight successful attacks.
Aside from her scoring, Gagate also anchored the Lady Spikers’ defense after scoring four successful blocks in just three sets.
DLSU could never ask for a better start in the Shakey’s Super League after limiting the Lady Altas to under 20 points in all three frames, allowing them to just a total of 40 points in 81 minutes.
Perpetual was able to gain some momentum in the second set after NCAA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Mary Rhose Dapol scored some points but Gagate’s personal run helped DLSU pull away again.
It was all DLSU in the last set as the duo of Alleiah Malaluan and Shevana Laput closed the show with their unstoppable outside spiking.
Malaluan contributed 11 points built from nine successful attacks while Laput chipped in 10 points including some hammer spikes in the last five possessions of the match.
Nag-stick kami kung ano ‘yung game plan namin. We executed, pero sa totoo lang, marami pa kaming lapses. Hopefully, tuloy-tuloy kasi lahat dito sa SSL, nag-handa so kailangan i-respeto namin lahat ng kalaban,” said deputy chief tactician Noel Orcullo.
