Games Thursday (The Arena, San Juan)
4 p.m. – UST vs Lyceum

A first ever-finals stint for Lyceum or a perfect 9-of-9 attendance in the finals for the defending champion University of Santo Tomas?

This question will be answered Thursday when the Lady Pirates and Tigresses collide in a rubber match for the last Shakey’s V-League finals berth at The Arena in San Juan City at 4 p.m.

The winner will play San Sebastian for the V-League title on Sunday at the same venue.

The Lady Pirates lost the opportunity to clinch their first finals berth when they bowed to the Tigresses, 25-18, 25-23, 25-22, last Tuesday, allowing their rivals to regain momentum.

With their backs against the wall, Lyceum must again summon the skill and energy that stunned UST in the first game of their best-of-three semis series, a thrilling marathon match where both teams played a total of 217 points before Lyceum prevailed, 30-32, 25-15, 23-25, 25-23, 15-10.

“We’ll have to bring back our usual game. We missed that in Game 2,” said Lyceum coach Emil Lontoc, whose squad is considered to have already overachieved having placed seventh in its last outing.

“As I’ve said before, we know we can beat anybody out there. We just have to stay focused.”

History, however, is on UST’s side. It has a perfect record in V-League, getting into the finals 9 out of 9 times while Lyceum is zero finals stint since 2004, the year the league began.

Key for a UST win will be the team’s continued aggression on the defensive end – especially against Lyceum’s Thai import Pornthip Santrong.

This is evident when the powerhouse Tigresses encountered little trouble in beating the Lady Pirates in Game 2 after limiting Santrong to only 12 points.

A leading MVP candidate who norms 19 points per game, Santrong, had a monstrous 35-point output in Game 1.
 
“After our loss in Game 1, we studied her (Santrong) game and learned that if we deflect her shots several times, her morale will be affected,” UST assistant coach Vilet Ponce de Leon, who took over for head coach Shaq delos Santos who had to honor a previous commitment.

Should the Tigresses prevail, they will be facing familiar foes in the finals as UST and SSC have met four times in the finals with the Tigresses prevailing thrice.

But before looking ahead, the Tigresses, who will be backstopped by Aiza Maizo, Angeli Tabaquero, Mary Jean Balse must need to hurdle first the Lady Pirates who will rely on Joy Cases, Nikka Guliman, and Dahlia Cruz.