Jonna Perdido loses her touch in the third and fourth sets but gets her groove back in the fifth to help tow the UST Golden Tigresses past the De La Salle Lady Spikers in the UAAP Season 86 women's volleyball tournament.
Teetering on the brink, University of Santo Tomas found a lifeline in Jonna Perdido.
Perdido fired three points early in the decider as she woke up from a third- and fourth-set slumber to help spark the Golden Tigresses' stirring comeback against reigning champion La Salle, 25-18, 25-23, 14-25, 16-25, 15-12, in the UAAP season 86 women's volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay on Sunday, Feb. 25.
She finished with a career-best 24 points built on 21 attacks and three blocks in the highly anticipated duel that was witnessed by 12,240 fans at the stands.
"'Yung mindset ko is positive lang. Medyo na-off ako noong third and fourth [sets] or nag-relax," said Perdido during the post-match presser.
"Siguro noong fifth set, tinapangan ko pa and nagtiwala talaga ako sa sarili kong kayang-kaya kong labanan 'yung La Salle."
Perdido hurtled a down-the-line kill to help UST inch within 3-4 after trailing 0-3 at the start of the fifth set. She then capped the Golden Tigresses' ensuing 5-1 run with a pair of attacks to force an eight-all standoff after they once again trailed at 3-7.
Rookies Angge Poyos and Margaret Banagua, and setter Cassie Carballo then took over from there to put in the finishing touches for the Espana-based squad which gained solo lead at 3-0 while shoving erstwhile co-leader Lady Spikers (2-1) to joint second with Far Eastern University.
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The 5-foot-9 outside hitter admitted being motivated to face DLSU, wanting to bounce back from what she dubbed as an "off-game" in UST's three-set whopping of University of the East last Wednesday, Feb. 21, where she only punched in seven points.
"Happy ako sa naging performance ko today kasi noong last game, off talaga ako," Perdido said.
"Mindset ko lang is magtiwala sa sarili and bumawi sa larong ito kasi pinaghandaan talaga namin."
Perdido will look to build on her impressive showing as the Golden Tigresses eye to sustain their unbeaten streak against the Lady Tamaraws on Sunday, March 3, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay. Tip-off is at 4:00 p.m.