UAAP RIVALRY: UST shuts down UE to advance to UNIGAMES 2019 semis

A UST spiker places a drop ball to keep the UE defense guessing (Leobert Julian A. de la Peña)

By: Leobert Julian A. de la Peña

THE University of San Agustin gym was packed as Ilonggos and volleyball fanatics stormed to watch their UAAP idols battle it out for a semifinal spot in the 2019 UNIGAMES Women’s volleyball.

Imee Hernandez and the UST Growling Tigresses prevailed over UAAP rivals University of the East, 26-24, 12-25, 25-9, 25-18, in one of the most flocked games in this year’s UNIGAMES.

The emphatic UST team started the match with urgency as they swarmed the UE net defense at will with their basic attacks.

Crowd favorite middle blocker Hernandez of UST received the warmest applause and cheers every time she blocked a UE attack.

However, UST’s momentum was halted in the second set as UE made their run off tremendous floor coverage from their libero and executing their attacks much better than they did in the first.

With the whipping UST took in the second set, UST head coach then sent in his twin-towers to defend the middle and that gave UE a hard time to score.

With the win, UST advanced to the semis.