CASIEY Dongallo had a triumphant return as University of the East survived Far Eastern University, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23, 22-25, 15-10, to advance to the semifinals of the V-League Collegiate Conference at the Paco Arena.

“Very happy with the performance of the girls. All of them worked really hard, we used a lot of players off the bench,” said Lady Warriors coach Obet Vital.

“The starters also did well, special shoutout to Casiey (Dongallo) for being off for six months or so, coming back strong and performing really well,” he added.

Dongallo, who was sidelined with a hand injury that derailed her stint for Alas Pilipinas last May, hardly missed a beat with 31 points and eight digs as UE ended its preliminary round stint with a 4-2 record to secure solo second.

Earlier, Letran defeated Lyceum of the Philippines University, 20-25, 25-21, 26-24, 25-19, to keep its slim hopes of reaching the Final Four.

The Lady Warriors have now won three in a row, relishing their five-set conquest of the Lady Tamaraws, who made it to the UAAP Final Four last season.

“This win is because of all the girls’ contributions individually and collectively as a team. I’m very happy, big win for us against a UAAP team, so this sets the tone going forward and we still have a couple of players out so looking forward to having everyone back soon,” Vital said.

FEU, which was led by Jaz Ellerina’s 18 points, dropped to 3-3 slate.

Rising star Gia Maquilang produced 21 points, including two blocks, and 11 digs while rookie Sheena Sarie fired two service aces to finish with 15 points for the Lady Knights.

With unbeaten University of Santo Tomas as its final preliminary assignment on Friday, a make up of a postponed Sept. 4 match, coach Oliver Almadro knows the difficult road of making it to the next round.

Letran is now tied with NCAA rival and V-League holders College of Saint Benilde at 2-3 and trails fourth-running University of the Philippines (3-3) by half-a-game.

“Until now, may mga rookies pa rin, [and] this is our first tournament. We’re still catching up, rookies are still catching up, finding the cohesiveness and the right connection. Yung preparation naman talaga is not really pa particular dito sa liga,” Almadro said.

“Good thing we have [the V-League] para competitively nakakacompete pa rin kami. What’s important is nakikita namin ano pa need i-improve: we need maturity, we need cohesiveness, we need more grit, na kahit ano mangyari, laban pa rin nang laban.

The match-up against the Tigresses will gauge how the Lady Knights perform as a team.

“Great teams will just push us forward. That’s a UAAP team, they’re the first runner-up, gunning for the championship this year, we will learn from them. Growth kailangan namin, we need that kind of game. UST will really push us forward,” Almadro said.