By ADRIAN STEWART CO

The University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses cruised to a dominant 25-11, 25-20, 25-17 victory over the Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles at the start of the second round of the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Sunday, October 20.

Negrense Cassie Carballo tallied 13 excellent sets to go with three points to be named Player of the Game as the Golden Tigresses improved their accumulated win-loss record to 5-0, moving closer to seeing a twice-to-beat incentive in the quarterfinals.

“Sobrang laking factor for us ‘yung relationship namin outside the court. Nagsisimula ‘yun sa relationship namin outside the court and nadadala namin ‘yun sa loob. Kanina, naglaro lang kami ng buo,” Carballo said.

Facing a rookie-laden first six of the Blue Eagles, the Golden Tigresses jumped to a quick 9-3 start behind attacks by Angeline Poyos and Jonna Perdido en route to a convincing 25-11 set win.

The Golden Tigresses struggled in the second set with the score tied at 20-all before Poyos and Regina Jurado spearheaded a 5-0 finishing run for a 25-20 victory.

In the third set, the Golden Tigresses were clinging to a 16-14 lead before they went on a 9-3 finishing run behind Poyos, Marga Altea and Carballo to finish the match in straight sets.

Poyos was on fire with 17 points, all coming from attacks, Perdido added nine points, while Jurado and Altea chipped in eight and seven points, respectively, for UST.

AC Miner finished with eight points, Yvana Sulit had six, while Lyann de Guzman and Bea Buena had five markers each for the Blue Eagles, which dropped to a 3-2 record./ASC, WDJ