University of Santo Tomas escaped University of the Philippines in five sets, 25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 19-25, 15-6, in the last match of the elimination round of the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament Sunday, April 30, at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan City.
The Golden Tigresses finished their elims campaign with a 10-4 card for the No. 4 spot and will face the top seed and twice-to-beat De La Salle Lady Spikers in the crossover semifinals.
Eya Laure took care of business with a huge performance of 28 points on 26 attacks and two blocks.
Regina Jurado and Imee Hernandez added 15 and 14, respectively, while Renee Peñafield had 11 points.
The Golden Tigresses cruised to a commanding 2-0 set lead over the Fighting Maroons.
However, UP didn’t let UST get away easily in the ensuing sets to force a decider.
UST, though, regrouped and opened the final set with an early 3-0 lead.
Laure then hammered down back-to-back kills followed by a Jurado service ace for a telling 12-3 advantage and ultimately sealed the win.
"Very thankful kasi nanalo kami. Collective effort siyempre, may mga umaangat naman na players statistically," said UST head coach Kung Fu Reyes.
The Fighting Maroons, who were paced by Niña Ytang's 17-point outing, wrapped up their season campaign with a 1-13 slate.
The UAAP Final Four kicks off on Wednesday, May 5, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
La Salle and UST are scheduled at 1 p.m., with the former looking to exact revenge for its second-round loss.
Reigning champion National University will take on Adamson at 3 p.m. in their semifinal affair.