La Salle’s Angel Canino, left, celebrates with her teammates during a win over Adamson in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball.–MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines — Alleiah Malaluan and Angel Canino lifted La Salle to the win column, getting the better of Adamson’s rookie sensation Shaina Nitura with a rousing 25-21, 26-24, 25-20 win in the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament on Saturday at FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
Malaluan powered the Lady Spikers with 16 points off 13 spikes, two aces, and a block, while Canino delivered 15 points from 14 kills to bounce back from a straight-set loss to defending champion National University last week.
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The Lady Spikers weathered the challenge of Nitura and the Lady Falcons in the first two sets before pulling away in the mid-third set with Shevana Laput joining the party for a 20-16 lead.
READ: UAAP: La Salle coach Ramil De Jesus laments rare opening loss
Canino sent La Salle to the match point, 24-18, before Malaluan ended the game with an off-the-block hit to tie Adamson and the University of Santo Tomas at 1-1.
“Sa tingin ko kulang namin is kumpyansa dahil sa first game namin nagkulang sa paniniwala sa sarili and sa team,” said La Salle coach Ramil De Jesus. “At the same time siguro dahil bago rin ‘yung setter. Doon sa mga pinagdaanan namin nung game na ‘yun, may mga natutunan ‘yung mga bata kagaya nung kailangan nila ma-overcome ‘yung pressure.”
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Laput finished with 10 points from seven kills and three aces. Rookie sister Mikole Reyes, the sister of former Lady Spiker and PLDT middle blocker Mika, dished out 15 excellent sets on top of two points, bouncing back from her jittery debut.
La Salle battles the University of Santo Tomas, the team that shattered its title retention bid last year in the Final Four, in a grudge match on Wednesday at Mall of Asia Arena.
In the first set, Adamson was limited to only nine kills — eight from Nitura — as most of its points came from La Salle’s 10 errors in the set.
READ: UAAP: La Salle opening loss a wake-up call, says Ramil De Jesus
The Lady Spikers needed to escape the Lady Falcons’ gallant stand in the second set as they blew a 20-17 lead with the latter rallying to the set point after Nitura’s two consecutive back row kills and Frances Mordi’s crosscourt, 24-23.
Canino came to the rescue, scoring off the block to tie the set, 24-all, followed by two consecutive attack errors from Red Bascon and Nitura to give La Salle a two-set advantage.
Nitura had 16 points for the Lady Falcons, while Frances Mordi added 12 points.
Adamson takes on the winless University of the East also on Wednesday.