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UAAP volleyball: Coach De Jesus glad to get past 'scary' UST team

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Camille B. Naredo, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2017/sports/04/23/uaap-2017-042217.jpg?ext=.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">La Salle coach Ramil de Jesus acknowledged that UST was always a tough matchup for his team. <cite>Richard Esguerra, ABS-CBN Sports</cite></div></figcaption></figure></div>MANILA, Philippines – Coach Ramil de Jesus could breathe a sigh of relief after the De La Salle Lady Spikers powered past the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses in their UAAP Season 79 Final 4 match on Saturday at the Araneta Coliseum.The defending champion Lady Spikers bucked a meltdown in the third set to eventually pummel the Tigresses, <a href="http://news.abs-cbn.com/sports/04/22/17/uaap-volleyball-la-salle-overcomes-ust-in-4-sets-returns-to-finals" target="_blank">25-14, 25-20, 24-26, 25-13</a>, and make it to the UAAP women&#x27;s volleyball Finals for the ninth consecutive year.The Lady Spikers owned a twice-to-beat advantage over UST thanks to their second place finish at the end of the elimination round, but as it turned out, they did not need to use it against the Tigresses who looked flustered early on in the match.Still, De Jesus only stopped being wary of the Tigresses in the fourth set, when the Lady Spikers ran out to an 11-1 lead and cruised from there.&quot;Nakita ko na kontrolado na, noong nasa double-digit na &#x27;yung score. Kita ko na medyo nagkakagulo na ang UST, so sabi ko, umayaw na,&quot; de Jesus said after the game.[I knew we were in control when we took a double-digit lead. I saw that UST was starting to fall apart then.]La Salle won all three of its games against UST in Season 79, but De Jesus revealed after their Final 4 match that the Tigresses were among the teams that truly gave the Lady Spikers a tough time whenever they played.&quot;Hindi biro ang team nila, compared sa mga nakaraang year. Sobrang nag-improve ang team ng UST. Isa &#x27;yan sa mga kinatatakutan kong team, ang UST. Swerte na nalampasan namin,&quot; he said.[This UST team is no joke. They improved a lot. They&#x27;re one of the teams that I feared this season, and we&#x27;re lucky to get past them.]When asked why UST was such a fearsome team, De Jesus pointed squarely to two players – EJ Laure and Sisi Rondina.&quot;Ang nakakatakot sa UST, kahit walang receive, and&#x27;yan &#x27;yung dalawang outside hitter nila, talagang pupuntos,&quot; he explained. &quot;&#x27;Yung iba kasi, kapag hindi na nakaka-receive, parang ang hirap ng pumuntos kasi hindi ganoon kalakas ang outside hitter.&quot;[What&#x27;s scary about UST is that even if they don&#x27;t have a good first ball, they have two outside hitters who can still score. With other teams, if they don&#x27;t get a good first ball, it&#x27;s tough for them to score because they don&#x27;t have the same quality of outside hitters.]De Jesus had reason to be concerned about the Laure-Rondina tandem. They proved to be the best one-two punch in the UAAP in the elimination round, with Laure tallying 192 points in total and Rondina not far behind with 191 points.In their Final 4 match, Rondina scored 16 points, all on attacks, while Laure mustered 14 points despite sitting out a good portion of the third set due to an ankle injury.UST coach Kungfu Reyes welcomed the compliments that de Jesus offered to his two star players – but not before making a joke at Rondina&#x27;s expense.&quot;Totoo yan, makakasalubong mo &#x27;to, &#x27;di ka matakot? Ikaw kaya maglakad na may mangga kang kaharap, &#x27;uy may manggang naglalakad ah&#x27;,&quot; he said, gesturing to Rondina who sat beside him in their post-game interview.[If you run into Rondina, won&#x27;t you be scared?]&quot;Hindi, joke lang,&quot; he added. &quot;Sila kasi &#x27;yung outstanding na outside hitter for now. Kung hindi man sila ang No. 1, nasa Top 5 sila.&quot;[I&#x27;m just joking. But it&#x27;s true that they are outstanding outside hitters. They&#x27;re in the Top 5 in the league in their position.]Though UST may have the edge when it comes to outside hitters, La Salle simply overpowered the Tigresses in every other position, Reyes acknowledged.&quot;Grabe din naman ang tao ng La Salle,&quot; said Reyes, making special note of the Lady Spikers&#x27; veteran setter in Kim Fajardo, and middle blockers Majoy Baron and Aduke Ogunsanya.&quot;Pero at least, &#x27;yung respeto na binibigay nila sa amin, doon pa lang, nagpapasalamat na kami,&quot; he added. &quot;And siyempre, kami naman, pinipilit namin na tapatan at sabayan ang La Salle. Alam naman namin &#x27;yung quality ng tao nila. That&#x27;s why sila ang nanalo ngayon.&quot;[La Salle has a lot of quality players. But we appreciate the respect that they give us. We try to keep in step with La Salle, but we know the quality of players they have. That&#x27;s why they won today&#x27;s game.]For more sports coverage, visit the <a href="http://sports.abs-cbn.com/" target="_blank"> ABS-CBN Sports website</a>.

Coach Ramil de Jesus could breathe a sigh of relief after La Salle powered past UST in their UAAP Season 79 Final 4 match on Saturday.

Coach Ramil de Jesus could breathe a sigh of relief after La Salle powered past UST in their UAAP Season 79 Final 4 match on Saturday.

UAAP volleyball: Coach De Jesus glad to get past 'scary' UST team

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UAAP volleyball: Coach De Jesus glad to get past 'scary' UST team

Camille B. Naredo,

ABS-CBN News

Published Apr 23, 2017 05:22 AM PHT

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UAAP volleyball

La Salle Lady Spikers

UST Tigresses

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