By Adrian Stewart Co

The University of the Philippines (UP) survived a challenge from the University of the East (UE) in their 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-11 victory in the 81st UAAP women’s volleyball season last Wednesday at the San Juan Arena.

Marian Buitre led the win with 19 points, while Diana Carlos and Maristela Layug added 16 and 15, respectively.

UP struggled early before coming up with clutch hits to score a 25-23 first set win. UE then bounced back to take the second set.

In the third, UP was forced to battle back anew following a slow start to gain a 2-1 set edge.

However, UE forced a fifth set by breaking a 24-all deadlock with hits from Mary Ann Mendrez.

In the fifth, UP jumped to an 8-4 start with shots from Buitre and Justine Dorog, but UE managed to claw its way back to make it a one-point match on back-to-back hits by Mendrez.

UP then pulled ahead to a 13-9 advantage.

While UE managed to get to within 14-11, Carlos closed the match with a smash./ASC, WDJ