With Pimentel forced to go out after sustaining a sprain in her right foot at the onset of the deciding set and after anchoring the Tigresses’ bid with 25 attacks, the Lady Archers quickly went for the kill, smashing in the points that sent the Tigresses reeling while foiling their arch rivals’ fightback with solid net defense.

Maureen Penetrante and Michelle Carolino took charge for La Salle and scored 42 points between themselves, the bulk of which they delivered in the middle sets to force a 2-2 tie from a 0-2 set deficit.

Riding the momentum, the Lady Archers took the first two points in the fifth then got a big lift when Pimentel injured her foot, forcing her to step out of the game and leave a big slack in UST’s offensive rotation.

The Tigresses never recovered from there, struggling in offense without Pimentel and eventually bowing out after a hard-fought match that took two hours and 22 minutes to finish.

One-up and all-pumped up, the Lady Archers, the reigning back-to-back UAAP champions, gun for the crown on Sunday in a bid to avenge their loss to the Tigresses in the final of the inaugural tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza last year and install themselves as the country’s top collegiate volley squad.

However, the UST camp said Pimentel will suit up in Game Two, hoping its top draw would be in her superb form in what could hint at a comeback by the defending champions in a bid to force a winner-take-all match for the title in the event co-presented by Dunkin Donuts, HBC Home of Beauty Exclusives, Smart and PLDT with Mikasa and Accel as official volleyball and outfitter, respectively.

Just when the big weekday crowd, that included Shakey’s president and CEO Leo Prieto Jr. and former PBA commissioner Rudy Salud, thought they had heard the last of the Lady Archers after two sets, the Taft-based spikers struck back with a pair of pulsating wins to send the game into a fifth game.