NU, UP dominate their way to finals berths in UAAP badminton

Defending champions National University and University of the Philippines continued to tear the house down in their respective divisions to earn outright Finals berths in the UAAP Season 80 badminton tournament Thursday at Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.

The Bulldogs continued to stay unscathed in the men’s division, dispatching their last foe University of the East, 5-0, to gain entry to the championship round.

Alvin Morada, Keeyan Gabuelo, and Alem Palmares hoisted NU’s flag in the singles category, while tandems of Morada and Palmares, as well as Christian Cuyno and Mike Minuluan as the Jhocson-based crew went unbeaten in six matches this year.

The Bulldogs have now gone undefeated through 33 ties harking back to 2014, and will be waiting for its best-of-three Finals date next week.

UP claimed the twice-to-beat advantage in the men’s stepladder semis after turning back La Salle, 4-1, behind singles’ bets JM Bernardo and CK Clemente and doubles’ squads Betong Pineda and Paul Gonzales to rack up a 5-1 record.

University of Santo Tomas forced a three-way tie for third place with a dominant 5-0 victory against
Ateneo, and has moved up to third place thanks to the quotient system.

The Green Archers and the Blue Eagles face off for the last semifinals ticket in the men’s division on Friday.

Meanwhile, UP turned back Adamson, 4-1, to proceed to the Finals after a six-tie sweep of the eliminations.

La Salle bagged the second-seed, which comes with a twice-to-beat incentive, after pulling off a 4-1 win over NU, while Ateneo silenced UST, 5-0.

The Lady Eagles and the Lady Bulldogs clash in the first of the step-ladder semifinals on Sunday.