De La Salle University averted disaster against Far Eastern University, eking out a 25-17, 25-22, 23-25, 19-25, 15-10 victory to stay perfect and secure a twice-to-beat incentive in the UAAP Season 88 Collegiate Women’s Volleyball Final Four on Wednesday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

Now sporting an 11-0 record, the Lady Spikers still have bigger dreams as an elimination round sweep would give them an outright Finals berth.

“Unang-una, nung fifth set, sinabihan lang sila ni Coach Ramil na balik, kalimutan yung nangyari sa third set at fourth set, balik kung ano yung inumpisahan namin. Sumunod lang sila sa kung ano yung gustong mangyari ni coach, kaya ayun, nakuha yung fifth set,” said La Salle deputy coach Noel Orcullo.

(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team

But for the Lady Spikers to remain undefeated, they needed grit and poise as the Lady Tamaraws staged a furious comeback.

La Salle was two points away from sweeping the match at 23-20 when FEU rallied with five unanswered points, fueled by three errors, a block by Tin Ubaldo, and an ace to stay alive.

The Lady Tamaraws carried that momentum into the fourth set, building a lead as high as 23-13 to force a decider.

In the fifth set, the Lady Spikers found a second wind as seniors Angel Canino, Amie Provido, and Shevana Laput led their team to the win after two hours and 27 minutes of play.

With FEU closing in after back-to-back points at 9-11, Provido, Laput, Canino, and sophomore Shane Reterta combined for a 4-1 finishing run to keep La Salle’s record intact.

“Itong match na ‘to, sobrang grateful kami kasi napanalo namin, pero I think, kailangan din talaga tingnan namin kung ano ang nangyari sa game na ‘to. Hindi lang yung result kasi madami kaming mga lapses talaga as a team na pwede namang maiwasan, so, more on balik kami doon sa basic,” said Canino, who finished with 24 points, 14 digs, and 10 receptions.

Laput added 25 points and seven digs, while Provido came up huge with 17 points on 10 attacks, six blocks, and an ace.

Rookie playmaker Eshana Nunag continued to impress with 32 excellent sets as the Lady Spikers dominated in attacks and blocks, 58-50 and 17-11, respectively, while the Lady Tamaraws controlled the service department, 9-3.

La Salle will next face Ateneo de Manila University on Saturday at the Filoil Centre before closing the second round against University of the East on the 15th and defending champion National University on the 19th.

(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team

Meanwhile, the Lady Tamaraws absorbed their second straight defeat, dropping to 6-5 and tying with the Adamson Lady Falcons for fourth place.

Lovely Lopez led FEU with 16 points and 24 excellent receptions, while Gerzel Petallo returned after missing three games due to a right shoulder injury and contributed 14 points, 18 receptions, and nine digs.

FEU will look to regain its winning form on Sunday against University of the Philippines at the UST Quadricentennial Pavilion.

The post La Salle survives FEU, clinches twice-to-beat in UAAP Women’s Volleyball appeared first on Tiebreaker Times.

De La Salle University and National University have been the defining rivals of UAAP collegiate women’s volleyball in the post-pandemic era.

While both schools have claimed championships at the other’s expense, the rivalry has largely been one-sided in recent years.

The Lady Bulldogs and Lady Spikers clashed in the UAAP’s return in 2022, with NU asserting dominance and completing a Season 84 sweep, including the Finals series.

That was in part thanks to the arrival of Bella Belen, who made history as the first-ever league rookie-MVP in the women’s division.

La Salle, however, truly turned the rivalry into a titanic showdown in Season 85, with rookie-MVP Angel Canino carrying the Lady Spikers to the title.

That momentum, however, was short-lived. In Season 86, La Salle faltered, settling for bronze after losing to University of Santo Tomas in the Final Four.

(C) UAAP Season 87 Media Team

Even in the Season 87 Finals, the Lady Spikers fell short as the Jhocson-based squad dominated in two games.

Since the second round of Season 86, NU has strung together five straight wins against La Salle, including four victories in Season 87.

That made the Lady Spikers’ victory over the Lady Bulldogs, 25-21, 25-19, 19-25, 25-17, in the first round of Season 88 all the more meaningful — especially for seniors Canino and Shevana Laput.

“Lalong-lalo na sa’ming seniors, malaking bagay din talaga ‘tong panalo sa’min. Kasi noong rookies kami, siyempre andun yung buong tiwala ng La Salle community, ng buong team, kasi yung tapang namin nandun eh,” said Canino, who energized the Lasallian faithful back in Season 85.

“Then right after that, nawala kami as a team and individually, and medyo hinayaan namin na magkaroon yung streak yung NU against us. And sobrang laking sakit siguro yung nakuha namin against NU, kasi ilang beses namin triny din talaga na talunin sila, pero hindi namin nagawa.”

After years of heartbreaks and a crown that slipped through their fingers, Canino knows this time it’s their championship to lose.

The Lady Spikers’ perfect 7-0 first round is proof that they are ready to reclaim their throne.

Alongside Canino and Laput, middle blocker Amie Provido and libero Lyka de Leon are also designated seniors and team leaders.

(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team

“So kami ngayong seniors, pinapangako talaga namin na pagpasok na pagpasok sa loob ng court, gusto naming ipakilala ulit kung sino kami. Gusto naming magkaroon kami ulit ng statement sa mga kalaban namin,” shared Canino, who contributed 14 points, 10 receptions, and six digs.

“Matagal na namin ‘tong hinahantay and ayaw naming palagpasin pa ’yung moment na ‘to kasi ito na ’yung time. Wala nang ibang time para ipakita sa mga tao na once again Lady Spikers kami. Lahat ng values na nandun as a Lady Spikers, dito na makikita ngayong Season 88. Kaya gusto namin talagang paghirapan bawat step, bawat game, gusto namin ipakita yun.”

Laput, who serves as team captain this season, echoed Canino’s sentiments.

The 6-foot-1 opposite spiker emphasized that while NU has had its moment in recent years, it’s now La Salle’s time to shine.

“Coming into the game, we knew that this is our time, this is our season. It’s now. We’ve let them have their time, but now it’s time for us to step up and rise to the occasion and do what we know we can do. Which is, we know that we can be a championship-level team,” said Laput, who led the Lady Spikers with 19 points and eight digs.

(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team

Despite the emphatic victory, La Salle knows that the first-round sweep alone means little if they cannot sustain this level of dominance.

The Lady Spikers are preparing for the tougher grind of the second round, where targets on their backs will grow even larger.

“But again, like I said, we have to earn it, and we have to work for it. Every single point, every single game, every single training, we have to work hard to be able to be worthy. For us to be worthy of being a championship-level team,” said Laput.

“We are happy, but again, there are things that we need to improve on. And as soon as we get back, that’s something that we will focus on.”

#WATCH: GUSTO NAMIN IPAKILALA ULIT KUNG SINO KAMI

Angel Canino says La Salle’s first round win over NU was long-awaited by her fellow seniors #ReadMore https://t.co/XfzWo6534w

@lorenzodelc /Tiebreaker Times#UAAPSeason88 pic.twitter.com/Y7WEFtI6wV

— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) March 15, 2026

The post After years of heartbreak, Canino, Laput make statement in first round clash vs NU appeared first on Tiebreaker Times.

After a dominant 2-0 start to the UAAP Season 88 Women’s Volleyball Tournament, newly appointed De La Salle University team captain Shevana Laput made one thing clear: the job is far from over.

The Lady Spikers opened their Season 88 campaign with emphatic wins over perennial contenders Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws and, more notably, the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses—a team that had long figured in La Salle’s heartbreaks over the past decade.

For the Fil-Aussie opposite spiker, matchups against one of La Salle’s storied rivals always push the Lady Spikers to bring out their best.

Following her 23-point outing against the Lady Tamaraws, the 21-year-old continued her fine form against the Golden Tigresses, scoring 21 points—19 of which came in the last two sets—on 17 spikes and four blocks.

“Of course, a strong team like UST pushes us to be the best,” Laput said after the game.

The rivalry has intensified in the UAAP’s post-pandemic era, with the Golden Tigresses eliminating La Salle in the Final Four of Season 86, only for the Lady Spikers to return the favor by dashing UST’s championship hopes in Season 87.

And while La Salle has now bested UST in four consecutive encounters, Laput stressed that making quick work of any contender in the highly competitive eight-team field is not the ultimate measure of the Ramil de Jesus-mentored squad’s growth.

(C) UAAP Season 88 Media Team

Instead, the 6-foot-2 spiker pointed inward. As La Salle seeks to erase the heartbreak of a third-place finish in Season 86 and a runner-up placing in Season 87, Laput believes the team’s toughest opponent isn’t across the net—it’s within themselves.

“At the end of the day, we are our best opponents, actually. We play better because we want to be better. No matter what team we play against, we’ll always play our best,” Laput explained.

The 21-year-old proved that statement on Sunday evening at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

As Angge Poyos and Xyza Gula mounted a late third-set rally that sent UST to set point at 24-22, Laput stepped up in the clutch with two consecutive rejections on Gula, followed by a drop shot that sealed the Golden Tigresses’ first 0-2 start since Season 79 (2017).

For Laput, beyond stepping up against a strong contender like UST, the Lady Spikers draw—and will always draw—motivation and lessons from the heartbreak that marred their past two seasons.

“Definitely for us seniors, having that heartbreak that we’ve had for the past two seasons, we want to come into this season and make bawi and finally capture what we believe is truly ours. At the end of the day, it’s very much a mind game. All of the teams here in the UAAP are skilled, but it’s who wants it more and who wants to win more,” Laput shared.

None other than lead deputy Noel Orcullo applauded Laput’s growth as the Lady Spikers’ skipper—from struggling when Coach De Jesus first appointed her to now fully embracing the role alongside batchmates Angel Canino, Amie Provido, and Lyka de Leon.

“For Shevana, siguro in-embrace lang niya yung task na binigay sa kanya sa pagiging captain. Nakita naman namin ’yan nung una, nagsa-struggle siya, ‘eh,” Orcullo said.

“Nung in-announce ni coach na siya team captain, medyo nag-struggle and nag-overthink siya. Sabi nga namin sa kanya, ‘Shevana, yang nasa dibdib mo, guhit lang yan. Hindi mo kailangang buhatin nang buo yung team. Marami kang katulong.’”

#WATCH: MARAMI KANG KATULONG

Noel Orcullo could not help but be proud of Shev Laput’s growth as La Salle’s skipper in #UAAPSeason88 #ReadMore https://t.co/qny4x2l6qJ

@ErnestTuazon /Tiebreaker Times pic.twitter.com/puYABCZqsp

— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) February 22, 2026

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