It took a wake-up call from one visiting team to get the host squad back into the groove.

Flashing the form that propelled them to the provincial crown, the University of St. La Salle-Integrated School volleybelles overwhelmed Iloilo's Central Philippine University in four sets to split their opening-day assignments in the Shakey's Girls' Tournament of Champions in Bacolod City. The victory came on the heels of the La Sallians' stinging 25-23, 20-25, 19-25, 27-29 defeat at the hands of Cebu champion University of Southern Philippines Foundation at the USLS College Covered Court yesterday morning.

USLS coach Malot Lozada saw defeat in the second and third sets coming but had something to build upon after her players' fighting performance in the fourth frame.

"The loss got them going," said Lozada.

With their backs against the wall, the La Sallians, buoyed by the big 22 points of skipper Gianes Dolar, responded with a 25-19, 25-18, 23-25, 25-19 victory over CPU in an hour and 23 minutes.

Later, Manila titlist Hope Christian School muddled up the standings, showing why it is the team to beat by scraping past USPF, 24-26, 20-25, 25-22, 25-22, 15-9 in a match that lasted for close to two hours.

"We got lucky," HCS coach Jerry Lee said.

The win pushed Hope leads the standings with a 1-0 win-loss card, followed by USPF (1-1), La Salle (1-1) and CPU (0-1).

The La Salle-Hope encounter will most likely determine one of the two championship berths on Saturday, unless CPU and USPF win big today. In an event of a tie, the quotient system will come into play.

Returning to court three hours after losing to USPF, La Salle shrugged off fatigue to pull through against a sputtering CPU side that had limited options on attack.

Gianes Dolar recovered from a so-so performance against USPF to fuel La Salle's assault with 22 points that included eight kills, eight service aces and six blocks.

But it was the all-around performance of Dancel Jan Dusaran that proved to be the biggest difference. The sophomore was at the heart of almost every La Salle play, producing fine defensive digs at the backline and also coming away with 11 kills when she was up front.

When CPU threatened at 19-22, Bea Tan made her presence felt anew, smashing a couple of service aces that sandwiched by a Kaye Zaldarriaga kill to put La Salle into the winning column.

The Cebuanas, losing finalists in last year's tournament in Manila, came out of the first set break with a remarkable spring on their legs as the troika of Charrylou Paden, Apple Saraum and Danika Gendrauli pounded La Salle's defense, which uncharacteristically lost its sting in the second and third frames.

"We made some adjustments after the first set against La Salle, especially when we should time our attack because they have really tall blockers," said USP coach Jordan Paca, who also admitted that his players were also adjusting to the soft taraflex-covered court.

"La Salle is inconsistent and we were able to make the most of our opportunities," Paca added.

With La Salle bugged by a string of unforced errors, USPF looked ready to wrap up the match by cruising to an 18-9 advantage in the fourth set.

But the hosts showed that they belonged to the big stage, scoring heavily on the serves of Dolar and Tan to reach set point first at 24-23 on another service ace by Zaldarriaga.

After La Salle squandered another chance at 26-25 on an error, Gendrauli, rested for most of the fourth set, marked her return to court with a smash to the center and another Paden kill finally snuffed out the hosts' challenge, allowing USPF to complete the win in an hour and 24 minutes. Hope drew inspiring performances from Carmela Garbin, Beverly Tan, Ann Co and Melissa Gohing to rally past USPF.

As in their match against La Salle, the Cebuanas appeared headed for the easy win, before Paca rested setter Ailene Singson and Gendrauli in the third set, an opportunity which Hope pounced on.

From there, Hope relied on Garbin's blocking, Gohing's fine defense and some smart plays from Co and Tan to finish off a dispirited USPF squad. *CPT

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