Coach Ramil de Jesus and the La Salle Lady Spikers celebrate after winning the championship in the UAAP Season 88 women’s volleyball tournament, beating NU Lady Bulldogs. –MARLO CUETO/INQUIRER.net

It took a rookie setter to stitch together the talent in the La Salle roster and key the Lady Spikers’ return to glory in UAAP women’s volleyball.

“She was really the missing link for the team,” coach Ramil de Jesus said in praise of Eshana Nunag, who literally orchestrated a ‘Sweep 16’ season capped off by a 25-22, 25-16, 25-16 Game 2 ripping of National University on Saturday night before more than 22,500 screaming souls at the Mall of Asia Arena for the Lady Spikers’ 13th UAAP crown.

“She (has) finally arrived,” De Jesus added of Nunag, a brilliant 5-foot-8 facilitator who successfully pulled off what Julia Coronel and Mikole Reyes couldn’t do ever since Mars Alba graduated as the Lady Spikers’ setter after Season 85. “There were just a few things I needed to correct to polish her game.”

And with Nunag being just 18 and if the core of the La Salle arsenal—Angel Canino and Shevana Laput–decides to play another year, then next year’s title defense will stand on solid footing.

“I was tough on her (during the off-season),” De Jesus continued, admitting that he saw a gem in Nunag. “The good thing is, little by little, she kept learning and improved her (game) that even against veterans, she never got overwhelmed.

“I’m really happy because as a rookie, she was able to help lead the team to a championship,” De Jesus said after becoming the winningest UAAP coach across all sports, overtaking the late great Baby Dalupan, who won 12 titles with the University of the East program.

Nunag, who left the National U Nazareth School to go to La Salle in senior high, was just eager to learn from De Jesus and be of help in the Lady Spikers’ redemption tour.

Help from seniors

“I also stayed very focused on coach (De Jesus) because he corrected a lot of things in my game,” said Nunag in Filipino after dishing out 217 excellent sets in the title clincher. “I think a big factor was my willingness to accept all those corrections and the things I still needed to improve so I could help the team better.

“It also helped that I came here in senior high school (because) I was already being (integrated into) the system, so by the time I reached college and my first year, I was already familiar with how things worked,” she added.

Nunag attributed her solid rookie year to Canino, Laput and Amie Provido, who made the job easier for her and helped her thrive under pressure by staying on the same page.

“I also wouldn’t have made it this far without the help of my older teammates. All of us worked hard for this, not just me,” she said. “I saw how much everyone improved compared to past seasons. I’m really thankful for their support and guidance.”

The learning curve is over for Nunag. And that makes her more dangerous moving forward.

“It was my first UAAP season, I learned a lot and I know there’s still so much I can take with me into next year from playing against the other teams,” said Nunag. INQ

The sixth signature event of the 2026 PGA Tour season brought players back to Charlotte for the annual stop at Quail Hollow for the Truist Championship. The field of 72 players battled it out for their share of the $20 million purse with Kristoffer Reitan taking home $3.6 million for his first career PGA Tour victory.

While Scottie Scheffler was not in the field after three consecutive runner-up finishes, most of the rest of the PGA Tour’s best made the trip to North Carolina for the final tune-up before the PGA Championship. The last two signature event winners — Cameron Young at the Cadillac Championship and Matt Fitzpatrick at the RBC Heritage — were looking to double up on such winner’s checks. Rory McIlroy was seeking to prevail at his favorite Tour stop after taking three weeks off following his second Masters victory. 

In the end, though, it was Reitan — not qualified for signature events at the start of the season — who prevailed by draining a pair of clutch birdies on the back nine Sunday to win by two strokes over Rickie Fowler and Nicolai Hojgaard.

Here’s the full breakdown of how much prize money each spot will take home from Charlotte this week.

2026 Truist Championship prize money, payouts

Total purse: $20 million

1st: $3,600,000 — Kristoffer Reitan
2nd: $2,160,000 – Rickie Fowler, Nicolai Hojgaard
3rd: $1,360,000
4th: $960,000 — Alex Fitzpatrick
5th: $800,000 — Tommy Fleetwood, Sungjae Im, J.J. Spaun
6th: $720,000 
7th: $670,000
8th: $620,000 — Ludvig Åberg, Harry Hall
9th: $580,000
10th: $540,000 — Patrick Cantlay, Matt McCarty, Cameron Young
11th: $500,000
12th: $460,000
13th: $420,000 — Justin Thomas
14th: $380,000 — Min Woo Lee, Chris Gotterup, Nick Taylor
15th: $360,000
16th: $340,000
17th: $320,000 — Alex Smalley, Gary Woodland
18th: $300,000 
19th: $280,000 — Austin Smotherman, Rory McIlroy, Keegan Bradley, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Kurt Kitayama
20th: $260,000
21st: $240,000
22nd: $223,000
23rd: $207,500
24th: $190,000 — Patrick Rodgers, Pierceson Coody, Adam Scott, Andrew Novak, Harris English, J.T. Poston, David Lipsky
25th: $175,000
26th: $159,000
27th: $152,500
28th: $146,000
29th: $140,000 
30th: $134,000
31st: $128,500 — Brian Harman, Viktor Hovland, Alex Noren, Tony Finau, Nico Echavarria, Corey Conners
32nd: $122,500
33rd: $116,500
34th: $111,000
35th: $106,500
36th: $101,500
37th: $96,500 — Sam Burns, Maverick McNealy, Akshay Bhatia, Taylor Pendrith, Matt Wallace, Andrew Putnam, Bud Cauley, Lucas Glover
38th: $92,500
39th: $88,500
40th: $84,000
41st: $80,000
42nd: $76,000
43rd: $72,000
44th: $68,000
45th: $64,000 — Justin Rose, Daniel Berger, Ryo Hisatsune
46th: $60,000
47th: $56,000
48th: $53,000 — Denny McCarthy, Aldrich Potgieter, Webb Simpson, Michael Kim
49th: $50,000
50th: $49,000
51st: $48,000
52nd: $47,000 — Mackenzie Hughes, Max Homa, Brian Campbell, Jhonattan Vegas, Matt Fitzpatrick, Chandler Blanchet, Jordan Spieth, Jacob Bridgeman
53rd: $46,000
54th: $46,000
55th: $45,500 
56th: $45,000
57th: $44,500
58th: $44,000 
59th: $43,500
60th: $43,000 — Xander Schauffele, Robert MacIntyre, Ricky Castillo
61st: $42,500
62nd: $42,000
63rd: $41,500 — Ben Griffin, Sepp Straka
64th: $41,000 
65th: $40,500 — Ryan Gerard, Si Woo Kim
66th: $40,000
67th: $39,500 — Ryan Fox
68th: $39,000 — Jason Day
69th: $38,000 — Sahith Theegala
70th: $37,500 — Sam Stevens
71st: $37,000 — Hideki Matsuyama
72nd: $36,000 — Tom Hoge

FC Barcelona have successfully defended their Spanish league title under coach Hansi Flick after a 2-0 victory over Real Madrid in the El Clásico on Sunday.

Early goals from Marcus Rashford and Ferran Torres helped Barcelona secure the important win, which moved them 14 points ahead at the top of the table with only three matches left this season.

The match was emotional for Flick, who was on the touchline despite the recent death of his father. Both teams wore black armbands and observed a minute of silence before kickoff.

Barcelona players and staff celebrated wildly after the final whistle at a packed Camp Nou as supporters marked another successful league campaign. Flick later described the squad as a “family” and thanked the fans for their support throughout the season.

It is the 29th league title in Barcelona’s history, with only Real Madrid winning more championships in Spain. Since replacing Xavi Hernández in 2024, Flick has now guided the club to league glory in both of his seasons in charge.

Barcelona have also won several domestic trophies during Flick’s time at the club, including the Spanish Super Cup twice and last season’s Copa del Rey.

The Catalan side also continued their impressive attacking record, scoring in 55 consecutive matches, one of the best runs in the club’s history.

Although Barcelona have dominated Spanish football, they have struggled in Europe. They were knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals by Inter Milan last season and later lost to Atlético Madrid in this year’s quarter-finals.

Barcelona’s title race was not straightforward. They were once five points behind Real Madrid earlier in the season after losing the first Clásico at the Bernabéu. However, Madrid’s poor run of results later allowed Barça to take control of the league race.

Real Madrid failed to recover after dropping points in several matches, while Barcelona went on a strong winning run to build a comfortable lead at the top of the table.

The defeat also means Real Madrid will finish the season without winning any major trophy for the second straight year.

Leading conditioner Peter Snowden highlighted King Of Roseau’s tenacity and competitive spirit after the heart-stopping finish of the Listed $250,000 Takeover Target Stakes (1200m) at Gosford on Saturday.

“I could see the horse on his inside (Harry’s Yacht) making his run with King Of Roseau but I just felt he would find a way,” Snowden said.

“King Of Roseau is in a frame of mind where he just wants to win. He has always been a good sprinter but he’s gone to the next level this season.

“He’s won six of his last nine starts and he just keeps getting better.”

Under Kerrin McEvoy, King Of Roseau at $6 narrowly held off Harry’s Yacht ($5) in a prolonged straight fight, as Way To The Stars ($16) trailed by half a length in third after leading initially.

The $3.90 market elect Kerguelen for Godolphin failed to feature prominently and was only beaten by one at the post.

By securing this race, Snowden notched his third Takeover Target Stakes, previously won with Calanda (2018) and Emblems (2014), with the chestnut sustaining his seasonal rise.

A natural sprinter, King Of Roseau first tasted stakes success at four with the Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap victory at Flemington.

His development persisted through summer with triumphs in the $2 million Magic Millions Cup and Group 3 Liverpool City Cup, leading into this first-up score.

Snowden indicated King Of Roseau’s excellent shape calls for Group 1 assignments, starting with the $1 million Kingsford Smith Cup (1300m) at Eagle Farm on May 30, then the $3 million Stradbroke Handicap (1400m) on June 13.

“I deliberately missed the Sydney autumn with King Of Roseau as he had a fair bit of travelling earlier in the season then went deep into summer winning at the Gold Coast and then back at Randwick,” Snowden said.

“So, I freshened him and decided to concentrate on the Brisbane carnival.

“He will go to the Kingsford Smith Cup next and 1300m is probably his best distance, then onto the Stradbroke Handicap.”

This campaign replicates the proven formula that propelled Think About It three years ago.

Think About It landed the Liverpool City Cup, freshened up, conquered the Takeover Target Stakes at Gosford, and proceeded to the Kingsford Smith Cup-Stradbroke double.

Subsequently that year, Think About It won the Premiere Stakes before stringing together nine wins in a row, ending with The Everest.

Visit betting sites for the latest racing odds on the Takeover Target Stakes.

Royal Challengers Bengaluru held their nerve in a last-ball thriller to knock Mumbai Indians out of IPL 2026 with a dramatic two-wicket win at the Shaheed Veer Narayan Singh International Stadium on Sunday. Chasing 167 on a surface that challenged batters throughout, RCB were carried by Krunal Pandya’s fighting 73 and a sensational finishing burst from Bhuvneshwar Kumar to seal victory off the final delivery.Early collapse as MI strike in powerplayMumbai Indians posted 166/7 after a strong recovery led by Tilak Varma’s fluent 57 and Naman Dhir’s 47, which helped them rebuild after a disastrous start.