Shakey’s V-League quarterfinals: Lady Bulldogs stop Tigresses

MANILA, Philippines - National University overcame University of Santo Tomas’ fierce challenge in the first two sets before cruising in the third to fashion out a 25-21, 29-27, 25-13 victory yesterday at the start of the quarterfinals of the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Jaja Santiago came through with a team-high 15 hits, including a match-best four blocks, while Jorelle Singh unloaded 13 kills for a 14-point output and Aiko Urdas added 11 markers as the Lady Bulldogs bounced back from a shock loss to the Ateneo Lady Eagles last Saturday to set their semis bid in motion.

“This is a morale-boosting win for us especially that we’re coming from a loss,” said NU assistant coach Edjet Mabbayad, referring to their stinging 15-25, 25-27, 17-25 defeat to the Lady Eagles that kept the latter in the quarters hunt in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

Later in the night, Ateneo fought back from an opening setback with a sweep of the next three, beating Technological Institute of the Philippines, 16-25, 25-16, 25-20, 25-16, in their playoff for the last quarters berth.

The win was the Lady Eagles’ third straight as they faced elimination with last year’s runners-up barging into the next round with the five other teams that survived the single round elims.

Meanwhile, NU, which finished the Group A elims with a 3-1 card, will thus carry a 2-1 card in the quarters, counting its earlier romp over UST, while Ateneo will have a 1-1 mark based on the unique carryover format in the tournament organized by Sports Vision.

UST, which posted a 2-2 slate in Group B elims topped by FEU (4-0) and UP (3-1), thus fell to 0-3 in the quarters since its two wins in the elims over ousted teams San Beda and St. Benilde won’t count in the next phase of the tournament backed by Mikasa as official ball and Accel as official outfitter.

FEU will have 2-0, San Sebastian while UP will carry identical 1-1 cards.

Urdas and Santiago pumped in a hit each as the Lady Bulldogs pulled through in an extended second set duel which they dominated at 21-13 only to crumble with miscues and poor service reception.

After another slow 0-3 start in the third, the defending champions rattled off five straight points and went on to dominate their rivals and post the lopsided set win.

After cruising in the first frame, the Lady Bulldogs looked headed for a runaway win after storming to a 21-13 lead in the second set. But the Tigresses, the winningest school in the league where it all started with six championships, fought back behind Eya Laure and Carla Sandoval while pouncing on their rivals’ errors, piling up eight straight points to draw level.

Santiago broke the spell with a quick hit then scored on a block to put NU up by two again but UST took three of the next four points to grab the lead at 25-24.

NU tied the game thrice, the last at 27 on a service error by guest player Ma. Agatha Mangulabnan before Urdas and Santiago came through with back-to-back hits to salvage the set win.