DE LA SALLE UNIVERSITY seeks to sweep the best-of-three championship series over two-time defending champion National University (NU) in Season 88 of the UAAP on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
Game time is 5 p.m.
La Salle is seeking its second title in four years and 13th overall. The Lady Spikers opened the series with a 25-23, 25-18, 25-1 victory last Wednesday and are looking for a repeat victory in Game 2.
NU, on the other hand, guns for its fourth championship in five years and sixth overall. The Lady Bulldogs need to win on Saturday to forge a winner-take-all third game.
The Lady Spikers swept the elimination round with a perfect 14-0 record. This marks La Salle’s first sweep since Season 76 when it bowed to Alyssa Valdez-led Ateneo de Manila University in the finals.
“That Season 76 was a total nightmare for the team. It was during Aby’s time; we swept the eliminations, but Ateneo fought all the way to the end,” said La Salle head coach Ramil de Jesus, who said history will not repeat this year.
“So I told them, I don't want that to happen again. Every year, I tell them that whoever the champion is, that’s who we really need to prepare for.”
Ace player Angel Canino, who led La Salle to the championship in Season 85, vowed to give the Lady Spikers another title this year after bowing to the same NU team in the finals last year.
“I really, really want to end this in a way that makes La Salle look good. That’s really it,” said Canino, who finished with 17 points and 9 excellent digs in Game 1.
“Because having been a rookie before, then going through Season 86, and then Season 87, where we desperately wanted to bounce back but failed to do so, and that was under my leadership as captain.”
Canino is expected to get support from Shevana Laput, Amie Provido and Shane Reterta.
In Game 1, Reterta netted 11 points and nine excellent digs and 23 excellent receptions while Provido and Laput added 12 and 11 points, respectively.
The three-peat seeking Lady Bulldogs, on the other hand, will lean on veterans Vange Alinsug and Arah Panique.
Panique scored 18 points while Alinsug chipped in 12 points on Wednesday.
NU, however, needs super rookie Sam Cantada to get going on Saturday after a 2-point output in Game 1.
Cantada introduced herself in the collegiate league after posting a career-high 32 points in a five-set win against the University of the Philippines in the preliminary round.
