ANOTHER late night match, another victory for University of Santo Tomas.

And if their first second round contest was to be gauge, there will be no easy games for the Tigresses to maintain their perfect record in the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament.

Ranged against an Ateneo side which shown tremendous improvement under Brazilian coach Sergio Veloso, UST had to grind it out in a 25-15, 27-25, 23-25, 26-28, 15-13 squeaker to extend its unbeaten run to eight matches Wednesday night at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Tigresses barely stretched their finest start since the 2006-07 championship season, where the España-based spikers won nine in a row.

With the match hanging in the balance at 8-8, setter Cassie Carballo atoned herself from a costly service error late in the extended fourth set that allowed the Blue Eagles to force a decider.

Rediscovering the form that vaulted her as the No. 1 server in the first round, Carballo unloaded two aces in UST’s three straight points that proved to be the difference maker.

This hard-earned victory will toughen the young Tigresses, who were able to maintain their top spot despite losing several key players from last season.

“Super grateful kami sa panalo today kasi talagang pinaghirapan,” said Carballo, who tossed in 26 excellent sets, had 5-of-12 attacks and fired four service aces.

“Yun lang din yung sinasabi namin sa isa’t isa na this round namin mas kailangan yakapin at mahalin yung isa’t isa kasi hindi naman po kami yung veterans talaga so part of the learning process lang din namin ito.”

Tigresses coach Kungfu Reyes was delighted to see his troops thrive under tremendous pressure.

Looked like goners after losing the first set, Ateneo gave UST everything to handle on offense and defense from the second set until the end of the thrilling two-hour, 49-minute contest.

“Another great experience para dito sa young guns namin. At least, real time na-experience nila yun hindi namin maituro sa ensayo ito eh diba yung mga pressure games at least na-experience nila first hand,” said Reyes.

Rookie Angge Poyos, who had a bad fall after crashing over the LED board late in the fourth set, led the Tigresses with 22 points and eight while Regina Jurado chipped in 19 points, including two service aces, and 10 digs as well.

Jonna Perdido, who produced back-to-back kills to shatter the match’s final deadlock at 13-13, finished with 17 points, including five blocks, that went along with nine digs and seven receptions.

“Para sa akin kinapitan lang talaga namin at pumalag lang kami hanggang dulo,“ said Perdido.

Lyann de Guzman led the Blue Eagles with 22 points while Sobe Buena and Zel Tsunashima each scored 21 points.

UST is now bracing for a tough showdown with National University, which at 6-2 is trailing defending champion La Salle (6-1) by half-a-game for the No. 2 spot on Sunday.

The Tigresses kickstarted their season with a stunning 25-19, 25-23, 25-22 sweep of the Lady Bulldogs last Feb. 18.

“Iba-iba kasi ang kuwento so iba-iba din ang kondisyon ng players, especially, ito nga galing sa exam. Maraming factor, pero ito marami kaming learnings,” said Reyes.

“Bukod sa panalo, marami kaming natututunan, especially mga decision-making sa dulo. Mga learning na dadalhin namin hanggang sa mga susunod pang mga laro. Yung preparation namin kay NU is different sa preparation namin kay Ateneo. Naka-specific ang lahat,” he added.