MANILA---La Salle gets to keep the top spot, after all.

The UAAP Board forfeited just one game from the Lady Archers’ perfect record in the women’s volleyball competition as a sanction on the two players who violated league rules by competing in another tournament.

But the erring La Salle players, Carmela Garbin and Clarisse Yeung, will be suspended for the rest of the season along with players from two other schools who committed the same infraction.

In a statement released after yesterday’s board meeting, the league said the University of the Philippines’ Lorraine Chua and the University of the East’s Alyssa Paril will also be banned “for participating in another league while the UAAP is ongoing.”

All four players competed in the Vikings Cup hosted by the World Citi Colleges during the Christmas break.

Only the match won by La Salle over the University of the East, 25-17, 25-17, 25-21, last Jan. 8 got forfeited.
Both Garbin and Yeung saw action in the game, while Paril sat out.

Although their unbeaten run got tarnished, the Lady Archers still kept the top spot with a 7-1 record.

“Only the games played after they committed the infraction were forfeited,” Edwin Reyes, director of La Salle’s Office of Sports Development, said yesterday.

“A similar case in football, where a player also competed in another league, was cited as precedent [in resolving the issue].”

Paril played in the game the Lady Warriors lost to the University of Santo Tomas, which was forfeited to a score of 25-0, 25-0, 25-0.

Jasmine Payo, Phil. Daily Inquirer