Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
NATIONAL University took advantage of the absence of University of Santo Tomas’ top guns to hack out a 25-21, 29-27, 25-13 victory at the start of the quarterfinal round in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference Monday at Philsports Arena.
Jaja Santiago, Jorelle Singh and Aiko Urdas fueled the Lady Bulldogs’ dominating triumph over the Tigresses, who played minus star hitters EJ Laure and Cherry Rondina.
Both Laure and Rondina are seeing action for another club team in a Thailand tournament.
But despite winning in straight sets, NU deputy coach Edjet Mabbayad noted their lapses, just like in the extended second set where they blew a 10-point advantage, 18-8, before overcoming the Tigresses’ multiple set point advantage.
“We have to work on our floor defense,” said Mabbayad. “We also have to improve on our service receive.”
Santiago dropped 15 points and Singh had 14 as the duo also combined for 24 of the Lady Bulldogs’ 39 attacks.
Before the lopsided third frame, the Lady Bulldogs needed to regroup when the Tigresses rallied to wrest the lead, 25-24, in the second set.
But the Lady Bulldogs managed to tie the game thrice before winning the set on back-to-back hits from Urdas and Santiago.
Earlier, Far Eastern University handed Perpetual Help its first loss, 25-23, 25-15, 20-25, 25-20, in Group A of the Spikers’ Turf Season 2 Collegiate Conference.
Greg Dolor pumped in 19 points built on 14 attacks, three aces and a couple of blocks, while John Paul Bugaoan scored 15 to power the Tamaraws.
The results forged a three-way tie for the lead at 3-1 among FEU, Perpetual and idle NU.
Only the top two teams in each group will advance to the semifinals.
University of the Philippines also boosted its semifinal bid with a 3-1 card after blasting San Beda, 25-23, 25-19, 25-16, in Group B.
Skipper Alfred Valbuena unloaded all of his 20 points off kills to pace the Maroons. With reports from Miguel de Leon and Philip Martin Matel