Adamson crowned itself the new PVL Collegiate Conference champion, blasting UST with its superb all-around game to fashion out a 25-19, 25-6, 25-17 victory and complete its sweep of their best-of-three series at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan over the weekend.
Trisha Genesis capped her tournament-long brilliance with 14 hits, including 10 attack points, while rookies Lucille Almonte, Lorene Toring and setter Louie Romero likewise sustained their veteran-like forms to power the Lady Falcons to a repeat victory over the fancied Tigresses for the coveted crown.
“We really prepared hard for a UST comeback – defense and even on our offense,” said AdU coach Lerma Giron, whose wards’ victory likewise served notice of the San Marcelino-based school’s bid for the next UAAP wars.
After a tough 23-25, 25-17, 25-16, 21-25, 15-11 decision in the series’ opener, the Lady Falcons stamped their class right at the start of Game Two and never gave the Tigresses a chance to recover, cruising to their first major victory since winning in the defunct V-League Season 7 Second Conference in 2010.
Genesis went on to bag the MVP honors while Toring actually paced AdU’s charge with 15 markers she highlighted with six kill blocks.
Rizza Cruz, also a rookie, produced 10 points while Almonte came away with nine markers and 10 excellent receptions for Adamson, which only lost once against St. Benilde in five sets in their semis duel.
Like Genesis, Romero proved to be a cut above the rest, finishing with 24 excellent sets on top of seven hits, including four aces, as she took the Finals MVP title that further underscored Adamson’s domination that saw the Lady Falcons nailing 14 aces, coming through with 12 kill blocks and blasting in 33 kills overall.
The Lady Falcons banked on their floor defense and controlled the net to take the first set then raced to a 13-1 bulge in the second capped by a Ceasa Pinar attack. The Tigresses failed to recover from that big Adamson attack and trailed majority of the third, enabling the Lady Falcons to post the straight-set romp.
Eya Laure scored 11 points and made 11 excellent digs but sister EJ was held to just four points and top rookie Imee Hernandez struggled in a must-win game and finished with just six markers for UST.