By MARK REY MONTEJO
De La Salle returned to the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball finals for the first time since 2023 after denying last year’s bridesmaid University of Santo Tomas with a 25-22, 11-25, 25-11, 25-21 victory on Saturday, May 3, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Fueled by last season’s heartbreak, the Lady Spikers came out deadly by shrugging off the Golden Tigresses’ assault particularly in the second set to secure their 21st finals appearance.
It was a redemption of sorts for the Taft-based squad after bowing to the same opponent in last year’s semifinals, while reaffirmed its mastery over UST this season after sweeping all of their three matchups including two in the eliminations.
With the victory, La Salle arranged a best-of-three finals against defending champion National University Lady Bulldogs — the very same team they beat in their last finals stint.
Angel Canino paced the Lady Spikers with 19 points built on 17 attacks and two blocks while Amie Provido and Shevana Laput uncorked 15 and 14 points, respectively.
Entering in her first-ever finals with the former school of her older sister Mika, Mikole Reyes shone anew off 14 excellent sets.
Angge Poyos and Reg Jurado gave their all for UST as they conspired for 43 points, but it all went down the drain.
