UST Lady Tigers off to a good start in SSL tilt

Games Sunday (Sept. 17)

(Filoil EcoOil Centre)

11 a.m – UE vs JRU

2p.m. LPU vs SBU

5 p.m. – AU vs AdU

The University of Santo Tomas blasted the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, 25-12, 21-25, 25-15, 25-21, on Saturday at the start of the 2023 Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Collegiate Pre-Season Championship Season 2 at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.

A roaring 12-2 start set the tone for the Golden Tigresses before recovering from a second-set mishap by owning the next two frames for an early 1-0 lead in Pool C of the 16-team tilt in cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education and the Philippine Sports Commission.

Super rookie Angeline Poyos, the Best Outside Hitter in the SSL National Invitationals where the Golden Tigresses finished third, picked up where she left off by hammering out 20 points on 16 hits to show the way for UST.

Kyla Cordora and Regina Jurado chipped in 13 and 11 points, respectively, for the Golden Tigresses in the SSL Season 2 featuring bets from the UAAP and NCAA with support from Mikasa, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Summit Bottle Water, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, R and B Milk Tea, Potato Corner, Rebel Sports, Converge ICT Solutions and Genius Sports.

“Medyo marami pang kailangang ipagpag, especially sa 2nd unit,” said coach Kungfu Reyes, whose wards suddenly cooled down in the second frame after winning the opener by 13 big points.

“Actually, wala namang nabago sa (2nd unit) namin. ‘Yun pa rin yung naglaro last time. Kailangan lang namin ayusin. Though nanalo, it’s a good game. A win is a win. Next game is Monday so kailangang maayos namin ‘yung galaw namin.”

As UST went berserk in the first set, Perpetual returned the favor in the second set with its own hot start at 8-3 to equalize the match at 1-1 behind the efforts of NCAA MVP Mary Rhose Dapol and Winnie Bedaña.

But with Jurado and Cordora as well as Jonna Perdido with nine points joining the barrage, UST rediscovered its groove by once again dominating the third set with a 10-point win before holding on just enough in the clincher from nearly wasting what seemed a comfortable 23-16 lead.

A Shaila Omipon drop capped Perpetual’s 5-1 spurt in the tailend of the fourth to strike within 21-24 only for Perdido with a crosscourt attack to finish it off as UST continued its dominance on the spikers from Las Piñas after a 2-0 sweep in the bronze-medal match of the inaugural National Invitationals last summer.

Dapol and Bedaña bannered the Lady Altas with 11 and 10 points, respectively.

UST shoots for a 2-0 mark against Letran on Monday while Perpetual takes a long break before plunging back to action against the same team next Monday. Back-to-back NCAA champion College of St. Benilde is the other team in Pool C.

All games will be accessible across all platforms live and on-demand through the social media pages of Plus Network and SSL with Solar Sports, Blast TV and Aliw Channel 23 as TV partners.