The UP Lady Fighting Maroons are the newest Philippine Superliga Collegiate Grand Slam 2018 Champions!

The Lady Maroons bested a strong and determined UST Golden Tigresses to bag the tourney’s first-ever championship.

UP came out with guns ablazing as they took a quick lead, 4-2, behind the strong start of Nikki Magsarile. UST quickly turned the tables though, as they tied the match at six-all before taking the lead for much of the set.

Down 19-16, UP mounted a run to tie the match at 20-20 and eventually bag the first set, 25-21.

UST took matters into their own hands in the next kanto, dominating the Maroons and was up by as much as nine points, 16-7. UP tried to post a comeback but fell short, as the Tigresses tie the match at one set apiece, 16-25.

From then, the Maroons never looked back.

The Diliman-based squad took a quick lead in the third as they entered the second technical timeout with a 16-12 advantage. Down by four, 15-19, the Tigresses established a 4-0 run to tie at 19.

Marist Layug, who had a total of 10 points, took control to secure the set, 25-23.

The fourth looked like a UST comeback with a 4-0 start. However, UP wouldn’t let up — mounting a 7-0 run to eventually take the lead.

Just a set away from their second championship of the year, UP went all out and forced the UST to bow out of the tournament with a 25-19 win.

Tots Carlos led UP with 17 points on 15 attacks. Rookie Magsarile added 11 points, while Ayie Gannaban added 8 and Justine Dorog had 6.

UST, on the other hand, relied much on Eya Laure and Milena Alessandrini who had 14 and 13 respectively.

The win gives the UPWVT their second pre-season championship of the year after their PVL gold last September. The team offers both championships to the team’s biggest supporter, Sir Dominic Sytin.

With such impressive performances, UP seems ripe to be contenders in the upcoming UAAP Season 81.