The University of Santo Tomas Female Tennisters clinched its first championship in seven years after sweeping the National University Lady Bulldogs, 3-0, in game 3 of the UAAP Season 87 women's tennis finals on Sunday, April 13, at the Felicisimo Ampon Tennis Center.

NU dominated the series opener with a 3-1 victory, but UST bounced back in game 2, 3-1, to force a winner-take-all matchup that resulted in the Female Tennisters earning their first gold medal since UAAP Season 80.

Patricia Lim started the matchup strong, cruising past NU’s Julia Carvajal, 6-4, 6-1, to put UST in the lead, 1-0.

Season 87 MVP Kaye Emana further extended the Female Tennisters’ lead after escaping a gritty second set fightback from JM Carcueva, 6-2, 7-5, to put the España-based squad on the brink of the championship.

Moments later, the younger sister of Kaye, Mica Emana, sealed the championship for UST after fending off NU’s Danna Abad in three sets, 7-5, 4-6, 6-2. The younger Emana’s performance throughout the series was enough for her to earn the finals MVP honors along with her rookie of the year award.

Female Tennisters head coach Dennis Sta. Cruz told TomasinoWeb that the team came into the match with high confidence, especially Mica Emana.

“Ang confidence nung bata [Mica] is mataas kasi nga rookie of the year [and] coming from a really great win yesterday,” said Sta. Cruz.

“Siya ‘yung nag-seal ng victory, siya ‘yung nagthird singles, siya ‘yung tumapos,” he added.

The younger Emana’s victory abruptly ended Justine Maneja and Minetter Bentillo’s clash against NU’s Adi Abadia and Rovie Baulete, with the UST duo trailing 3-4 in the first set.

Debbie Gom-os and Maria Padilla were also down 0-5 against Elsie Abarquez and Kolin Cornell when their match was cut short as well.

“So proud, so happy for the team,” said Sta. Cruz. “Knowing na meron silang [player] na na-injure [from the last match]… medjo nakita na rin namin Yung possible line up ng kabila kaya tinibayan na natin ‘yung tatlong singles natin.”

“‘Yun naman ang game plan namin is to get at least two singles [win] for this last game. Luckily, we got three,” he added.

The win marked UST’s eighth overall title in the women’s division, the most in UAAP history.