By MARK REY MONTEJO
La Salle sustained its brilliance and grinded out a hard-fought 25-20, 25-20, 26-28, 33-31 victory over Adamson for its fourth straight win in the UAAP Season 88 men’s volleyball tournament at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Saturday, March 21.
Riding the crest of their stunning win over reigning champion National University Bulldogs, the Green Spikers quickly set the tone after racing to an early 2-0 seat lead.
They wasted a 26-25 lead off Richard Besorio and Joel Menor’s counter in the third that kept the Falcons alive in their rematch.
It was another extended affair in the fourth, but this time, La Salle held its ground with Issa Ousseini and Eugene Gloria taking charge down the stretch en route to their fourth straight win in eight games for a share of fourth spot. Adamson, after its loss, dropped to 2-6 at seventh.
The Taft-based squad strengthened its bid for a Final Four return after suffering a 0-4 start early this season.
Meanwhile, Ateneo almost squandered a 2-0 set lead before frustrating host University of Santo Tomas, 26-24, 25-18, 22-25, 16-25, 15-9, to notch its second straight victory.
“Gaya ng na-mention last time, this second round we’re trying to be aggressive in a way, as much as possible, mapanalo namin every game ngayon, one game at a time. We’ll see,” said La Salle head coach Jose Roque.
“I’m a player, every time I played, I’m trying to play better compared to last game, but we weren’t able to manage our last two sets after we that [thankfully] we catch up in the end,” added Ousseini, who posted his career-high 26 points off 22 spikes and four blocks with three receptions.
Gloria, for his part, uncorked 17 points along with 10 excellent digs and 20 excellent receptions, while Glen Ventura and Chris Hernandez added 14 and 12 points, respectively.
Besorio starred for Adamson after tallying 22 points, five digs, and 18 receptions, while Lance Gian Flestado and Menor combined for 21 points in a losing cause.
