University of the Philippines came back from a 1-2 match deficit to dodge an upset ax from University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, 10-25, 25-23, 22-25, 25-15, 15-10, in the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Preseason Championship Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Fighting Maroons shook off a rusty start to welcome newly-appointed head coach Shaq de los Santos with a hard-earned victory over erstwhile unbeaten Lady Altas in Pool A.
Alyssa Bertolano and Lainne Arce came through with clutch plays for the Lady Maroons in the fifth set to complement hot-scoring Marianne Sotomil.
Arce had 14 points while Bertolano scored 10 for UP.
Sotomil led UP with 18 points, Arce finished with 14 markers while Kamille Cal and Bertolano scored 12 and 10, respectively.
In the second game, Adamson University bounced back mightily from an opening day loss as the Lady Falcons vented their ire on hapless San Sebastian College, 25-10, 25-14, 25-18, in Pool B.
Adamson capitalized on its height advantage and power to easily demolish the Lady Stags and rebound from a five-set loss at the hands of unbeaten University of Santo Tomas last week.
San Sebastian dropped its second straight match in as many games following another straight sets loss to the Tigresses on Saturday.
Bertolano and Arce fueled UP’s revolt in the fourth set that helped the Fighting Maroons build momentum heading into the deciding frame.
“I told them to forget everything that happened in the first four sets, execute our game plan, and not commit the mistakes we did in the previous sets. Good thing they responded positively,” De los Santos said.
Back-to-back aces from Bertolano gave UP a 4-1 lead to start the fifth set before the Lady Altas rallied to tie it at 7. The Fighting Maroons answered with a 6-2 counter sparked by a Bertolano hit.
Rookie Shaila Omipon stopped the bleeding for Perpetual but Arce delivered the finishing blows by hammering down a quick attack followed by a game-winning ace.
Perpetual, which slid to a 2-1 win-loss record, got 15 points from Omipon and 14 markers from Winnie Bedana.
