Lady Bulldogs bite back; Lady Falcons boost bid

MANILA, Philippines — Adamson and National U stayed on the coattails of unbeaten pacer La Salle, taking care of business against their respective counterparts with clean victories in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament second round yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

The Lady Falcons scored a repeat win over Ateneo, 25-23, 25-17, 26-24, as the Lady Bulldogs drubbed University of the Philippines, 25-21, 27-25, 25-20, to snap a rare two-game losing skid.

NU climbed to 6-3 to gain a piece of fourth spot with idle Santo Tomas with Adamson firming up its hold of the second seed at 7-2 to form a tight chase group behind unbothered leader La Salle at 9-0.

Kate Santiago and Trisha Tubu once again formed a formidable Lady Falcons duo with 18 and 17 points, respectively, to spearhead their attack for a sweep of the Blue Eagles following an easier 25-18, 25-23, 25-19 win in the first round.

Lorence Toring (9), Lucille Almonte (8) and Aprylle Tagsip (7) joined the party with Louie Romero (18 sets) orchestrating the attack for Adamson, which has been the revelation team this season under first-year mentor Jerry Yee.

“I tried to relay to our team that there’s no pressure. Laro lang, relax lang,” said Yee as the Lady Falcons found the Blue Eagles a tougher assignment this time.

Earlier, NU got back on the winning track after back-to-back losses to La Salle behind Mhicaela Belen, who atoned for her scoreless outing against UP in the first round with 19 points and 11 receptions.

Skipper Princess Robles (11), Alyssa Solomon (9), Sheena Toring (8) and Erin Pangilinan (7) backstopped the reigning MVP in NU’s return to form to stabilize a title retention bid after a perfect 16-0 campaign in Season 84.