Lady Falcons sweep Stags, cop V-League crown
Adamson outfoxed San Sebastian-Excelroof in a tense-filled first-set duel then imposed its will on both ends in the next two to complete a 26-24, 25-17, 25-16 sweep and clinch the Shakey’s V-League Season 7 second conference crown before a big crowd at The Arena in San Juan.
Former MVP Nerissa Bautista delivered 14 kills and wound up with 17 points while Angela Benting rebounded from a mediocre stint in Game Two to fire 13 points, matching Pau Soriano’s output, and Michelle Laborte backed them up with 10 hits as the Lady Falcons turned what had appeared to be another cliffhanger to a three-set romp.
Bautista went on to win the series MVP honors. Adamson, which took the opener in five sets but lost the second in four, thusclinched the best-of-three series, 2-1, for its second championship in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.
It was a remarkable season for the San Marcelino-based squad, which finished fifth in the first conference but worked its way to the top through hardwork, determination and defense.
“Discipline was the key to this win,” said Adamson coach Dulce Pante, who also steered the team to victory in the 2008 first conference.
“But this win was sweeter since it went to three games. It was tough but we did it through my players’ determination,” said Pante in Filipino. Adamson became just the third team after UST(six) and La Salle (three) with two or more titles in the country’s premier women’s volley league organized by Sports Vision.
The Lady Falcons outhit the league’s top attacking squad, 48-33, and outblocked their rivals, 9-2, en route to victory that capped a sterling campaign in the season-ending conference highlighted by a sweep of the quarterfinal round.
The Lady Stags last took the lead at 24-23 in the opening frame but Bautista came through with back-to-back kills then reserve Sheila Pineda scored on an ace to snatch the win. Adamson sustained its form in the second, pouncing on the Stags’ errors to build leads of as many as nine, 16-7, to go 2-up then Bautista, Laborte, Benting and Soriano combined again in the third to complete the sweep.
It was the second straight runner-up finish and sixth overall for the Lady Stags, who also lost the first conference crown to UST, also in sudden death. It
was also the sixth time that Thai import Jeng Bualee failed to win a crown in the league backed by Accel, Mikasa and Excelroof. Bualee finished with 17 points but no local Stag scored in double-digits as they struggled in the face of the Lady Falcons no-nonsense defense. Elaine Cruz had eight hits and Joy Benito was held to just five points.