By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses made a return trip to the UAAP Women’s Volleyball grand finals after dethroning the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers during their Final Four clash, 25-20, 16-25, 25-20, 19-25, 15-7, on May 5, 2024, at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
After five years of waiting for that golden opportunity to set foot on the championship stage once again, UST did it in spectacular fashion after outworking the reigning champions in front of a massive 19,505 crowd in attendance.
The last time that the Golden Tigresses entered the grand finals stage was May 18, 2019, when they were still led by Sisi Rondina, Eya Laure, and Caitlyn Viray.
However, the stacked UST group bowed down to the Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) in three straight sets during the winner-take-all Game 3.
This year, the young and inspired UST squad vowed to put the crown back to España, moments after they took down the defending champs.
It was a nip-and-tuck affair as both schools traded set wins, with UST taking the first and third frames while DLSU with the second and fourth.
The match went down to the wire as the fifth and final set approached. With everything put on the line, it was the Golden Tigresses who showed more character in the most important set of the match.
After a deadlock at 3-all, a UST scoring avalanche shocked the Lady Spikers when they hosted a 7-0 scoring run to build a 10-3 advantage.
From there, the Golden Tigresses just stole away the momentum from DLSU and marched to the UAAP Season 86 championship series.
Super rookie Angge Poyos wouldn’t be denied as she led the UST with a game-high 28-point performance derived from 25 successful attacks to go alongside two service aces and a block.
Backstopping Poyos was Jonna Perdido who contributed 18 markers built from 16 successful attacks and 12 excellent receptions.
UST became the first school to book a finals ticket and is now awaiting the winner between FEU and NU who will play a do-or-die game.
