All roads lead to the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday
Games on Wednesday
(SM Mall of Asia Arena)
Noon – FEU vs NU (Men's Final)
5pm – DLSU vs NU (Women's Final)
FOOD IS SHORT AND RESCUE. Three-peat against perfection.
All roads lead to the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday as arch-rivals National University (NU) and De La Salle University meet again in the Last Dance of the UAAP Season 88 women's volleyball finals.
The showdown starts at 5pm for Game 1 of the best-of-three finals after the rematch of the men's final between the NU Bulldogs and the Far Eastern University Tamaraws at noon.
But all eyes are on the Lady Bulldogs and Lady Spikers, who will lock horns for the fourth time in five seasons as arguably the biggest and hottest collegiate volleyball rivalry in the country today.
And they both have good intentions to take after taking different paths to get here.
La Salle, which managed to win only once against NU in the last three contests, was unforgiving in its quest for revenge by sweeping the two-round qualifier, 14-0, to reach the finals.
The elimination of the Lady Spikers turned the traditional Final Four format into a ladder match, denying the second-seeded Lady Bulldogs the incentive of a doubleheader and dragging them into survival of the fittest with No. 3 Adamson University and No. 4 University of Santo Tomas (UST).
But in addition to trying to disrupt NU's three-peat, La Salle is determined to exorcise the ghost of the past after a four-peat bid was thrown behind them in Season 76 – to be redeemed and fought for.
La Salle last swept the UAAP in 2014 in the league's then-three-hit bonus format in the finals but lost three times to Alyssa Valdez, giving Ateneo de Manila University its first-ever title.
La Salle, in its 21stSt final appearance with 13th title in mind under the wisdom of famous mentor Ramil de Jesus, hopes to get a different result this time led by star captain Shevana Laput and former Rookie-MVP Angel Canino.
The Taft-based anchors last time faced a growing force in Ateneo on the way to the downfall of their dynasty. The big difference now is when you face the NU queendom, although there is a small core after the graduation of veterans Bella Belen, Alyssa Solomon and company.
And the new mentor Regine Diego, who was once Mr. de Jesus at La Salle in the 2000s, he hopes it will be enough to protect the state.
“It's always about discipline for coach Ramil (de Jesus) and hopefully, I can discipline him,” swore Ms. Diego, relying on team captain Vange Alinsug and Lams Lamina who are the only ones left in NU's tournament mind and rising star Arah Panique and music star Sam Cantada.
Unlike the Lady Spikers who have a two-week break and an automatic passage to the finals, the Lady Bulldogs will ride the momentum despite the short preparation after surviving the UST Golden Tigresses in the Knockout Final Four, 20-25, 26-24, 26-24, 25-21, last weekend.
NU became the last team to complete a 16-0 UAAP sweep in 2022 with Ms. – John Bryan Ulanday
