The UP Fighting Maroons already match their win total in Season 86 after taking their Season 87 opening-day win over the UE Lady Warriors.
The UP Fighting Maroons welcomed a new era under head coach Benson Bocboc with a victory as they averted a late-game meltdown, winning over the UE Lady Warriors in five sets, 25-18, 26-24, 24-26, 13-25, 15-13, in the opening game of UAAP women’s volleyball in Season 87 at the Mall of Asia Arena on Saturday.
UP, led by promising rookie Kianne Olango and key holdover Joan Monares, drubbed the Lady Warriors in the scrappy affair as the Recto-based team fielded only 11 players in their lineup for the season, making their rotation lean.
The Lady Warriors saw multiple players, headlined by Casiey Dongallo, leave for UP in the offseason.
[RELATED: Now in UP, Casiey Dongallo keeps Lady Warriors in her heart: ‘Hindi ko pa rin nakalimutan yung UE’]
Despite UP dictating the pace for most of the first two sets, the Lady Warriors did their damage, particularly in the third set onwards.
In the third salvo, UE battled back from down 15-20, as the Lady Warriors saved a match point and scored the last three points of the set.
A big point from Riza Nograles finished the comeback as they forced UP to the fourth set.
The set win buoyed them to a dominating showing in the fourth where they dragged UP into the deepwater, 25-13, to send the first women's game of the season into a winner-take-all fifth set.
Then in the decider, UE also tried to pull the rug from under UP when the Lady Warriors again battled back from an early 2-8 deficit, tying the game late at 13-all after an Ashley Cañete ace.
But the Fighting Maroons leaned on Nica Celis and Niña Ytang, who provided back-to-back points to finish the game and the win for UP.
The Fighting Maroons thus begin the season with a win -- already matching their total for last season -- while the Lady Warriors are at 0-1.