Pinoy Spikers (Philippine Spike)

FOR the second straight year, La Salle and University of Santo Tomas will meet in the finals.

But the Lady Archers need to toughen up in close games like this if they want to dethrone the Tigresses.

La Salle went to the eye of the needle once again to outlast a stubborn Ateneo side, 26-24, 21-25, 25-17, 26-28, 15-8, in the ‘Final Four’ of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

The series opener between the Lady Archers and the Tigresses is set on Wednesday.

In the men’s division, titleholder UST arranged a finals rematch with long-time rival Far Eastern University with a 23-25, 20-25, 25-16, 25-16, 15-8 win over La Salle.

“Disorganized ang blocking namin at lumabas ang mga pagkakamali sa mga service.  Masuwerte na kami at nanalo, at least na-test nang husto ang mga bata,” said a relieved Lady Archers mentor Ramil de Jesus.

Stephanie Mercado finished with 19 points while Jacq Alarca and Abigail Maraño contributed 14 points for La Salle.

In what expected to be an easy outing for the Lady Archers, who dominated the Lady Eagles in their two elimination meetings, has turned out to be a close one, with the errors bugging the Taft-based spikers.

Ateneo took the game to a fifth frame with a Fille Cainglet scoring go-ahead kill and Bea Pascual banged in set-winning tip-in.

The Katipunan lady spikers even took a 3-1 advantage early on when La Salle banked on its experience to take a 7-3 spread after Dzi Gervacio committed an attackingn error.

A running spike by Gretchen Ho allowed the Lady Eagles to inch closer to 7-8 before the Lady Archers went on another run, as setter Mika Esperanza scored on a drop shot to take a 13-8 lead.

Cainglet and Gervacio finished with 19 points while Ho chipped in 11 hits, including two blocks, and Kara Acevedo had 10 markers for Ateneo.

La Salle seeks to regain the title it last won in the 2008-09 season in a line-up led by Manilla Santos, Michelle Datuin and Celine Hernandez.

Staring at a 3-7 deficit in the deciding fifth set, JP Torres, James Pecaña and Jayson Ramos combined forces in the Growling Tigers’ searing 11-0 run to move closer to match point.

A service error by Ramos ended that rampage before UST, which is seeking a ‘four-peat’, sealed the win with a kill by Pecaña.

“Experience ang nagpanalo sa amin.  Yung first two sets, kulang sa timing yung blocking namin pero mabuti na lang at nakabawi kami,” said Growling Tigers coach Emil Lontoc.

Torres had a career-high 24 hits, including five blocks, while Jay Depante added 16 points for UST.

Chris Macasaet and Christopher Antonio scored 14 hits apiece while Mark Lee and Kevin dela Vega chipped in 12 points each for the Green Archers.

The Growling Tigers and the Tamaraws begin their best-of-three championship series on Wednesday.  (TJ)

UAAP NOTES: Ateneo scored 33 points off La Salle’s errors.  The Lady Eagles scored 74 digs, with 29 coming from libero Denden Lazaro and 24 from Fille Cainglet.  The game on Wednesday will start at 1 p.m. due to the 5 p.m. start of PBA on Studio 23.  The main concern right now of the league is if the games go beyond 5 p.m.