SSC, Adamson keep Shakey’s V-League top spot

MANILA-Philippines—ADAMSON RELIED on its attacking depth anew to wallop Far Eastern U in four sets yesterday and share top spot with San Sebastian-Excelroof in the quarterfinals of the Shakey’s V-League Season 7 Second Conference at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.   The Lady Falcons turned back the Lady Tamaraws, 25-23, 25-17, 22-25, 25-17, for a fifth straight victory that kept them in step with the Lady Stags, who overpowered National U, 25-15, 25-12, 24-26, 25-13.   Adamson and San Sebastian jacked up their records to 7-2, while the Lady Tamaraws fell to 4-4. The Lady Bulldogs, who beat the Perpetual Help Lady Altas for the last quarterfinal spot, were left nursing faint hopes of making the semifinals after dropping to 2-6.   Jeng Bualee fired a personal conference-high of 30 points on 28 kills as the Lady Stags bounced back mightily after absorbing a 15-25, 25-21, 13-25, 25-19, 15-13 defeat to the Lady Falcons last Sunday.   “We’re learning our lessons from that loss to Adamson,” said SSC coach Roger Gorayeb.   Their morale boosted by their five-set victory over the Lady Altas, where they rallied from two sets down, the Lady Bulldogs showed some bite in the third set behind standouts Mervic Mangui and Dindin Santiago.   But Bualee kept finding holes on the Perpetual Help defense in the fourth set, and Suzanne Roces also found her rhythm as the Lady Stags closed out the match in an hour and 23 minutes.   Mangui paced the Lady Bulldogs with 19 points, while Santiago, a transferee from University of Santo Tomas, finished with 15.   San Sebastian could have finished off Perpetual Help earlier but the Lady Stags committed 24 errors, seven more than the Lady Bulldogs.   Angela Benting finished with 20 points, while Nerissa Bautista contributed 17 for the Lady Falcons, who prevailed despite 26 errors.   Pau Soriano and Michelle Laborte wound up with 13 points as the Lady Falcons followed up their five-straight conquest of the Lady Stags by putting together another solid effort against the Lady Tamaraws.   Angelica Vasquez, slowly but surely proving to be a worthy replacement for multi-awarded libero Lizlee Ann Gata, anchored the Lady Falcons solid defense with 24 excellent digs.