NU, UST eye finals duel in UAAP juniors volleyball

MANILA, Philippines — Reigning girls champion National University and University of Santo Tomas hope to seal another title duel as they faced lower ranked foes in the UAAP Season 80 high school volleyball Final Four on Friday at the Filoil Flying V Center.

The Bullpups take on fourth-ranked Far Eastern-University at 11 a.m., while the Junior Tigresses battle No. 3 De La Salle-Zobel at 9:30 a.m.

Holding twice-to-beat bonuses for finishing top two in the eliminations, NU and UST need only to win once to make it to the best-of-three Finals for the fifth straight year.

The Bullpups foiled the Junior Tigresses' sweep bid with a 25-20, 25-15, 26-24 win over the weekend. NU tied UST at 11-1, but the Bustillos-based spikers took the No. 1 ranking by virtue of a superior quotient.

The Junior Lady Spikers wound up third in the elimination phase with a 7-5 card, while the Baby Tamaraws finished fourth with an even 6-6 card.

NU and UST dispute the remaining twice-to-beat incentive in the boys' Final Four at 8 a.m. The Bullpups and the Tiger Cubs ended up tied in second place at the end of double-round eliminations at 11-3.

FEU-Diliman, which finished the eliminations with the league-best record at 12-2 card, take on University of the East (10-4) in the Final Four starting at 8 a.m. on Sunday.