Reigning NCAA champion, Arellano University Lady Chiefs capitalized on the absence of National Team standouts, Dindin Santiago-Manabat and Myla Pablo, in defeating the National University Lady Bulldogs 25-23, 25-18, 19-25, 25-22 in the Shakeys V-League Collegiate Conference at the FilOil Flying V Arena earlier today.
Jaja Santiago, Jasmine Nabor and Jorella Singh quickly carried the Lady Bulldogs in the first set, mounting an 8-3 lead after the 1st technical timeout, as the Lady Chiefs couldn’t find any remedies for their attack errors. Eventually, Dana Henson, Menchie Tubiera and Shirley Salamagos launched a barrage of attacks to end the second technical time out with the lead at 16-15, as the Lady Bulldogs struggled to score and control their errors, which became a problem for the Sampaloc based squad. Arellano continued to slug the Lady Bulldogs with attacks coming from Henson, Tubiera and guest player, Carmina Aganon, taking a 1-0 set advantage.
The Lady Chiefs continued to harness the Lady Bulldogs errors in the second set, mustering a 12-4 lead, behind Tubiera and Salamagos’ excellent play. NU was able to catch up, cutting the deficit to just 2 at 14-12, but Doria committed a service error to give the Lady Chiefs a slight 15-12 lead. Arellano then relied on Henson and Tubiera to shut down any hope for an NU comeback.
Veteran Setter Ivy Perez took over for rookie Ria Diolan in the third set to orchestra the NU offense. Perez scored three out of the first five points for the Lady Bulldogs as the Chiefs struggled with their reception and fell behind 8-1 after the first technical timeout. Shirley Salamagos and Aganon poured the Lady Bulldogs with powerful attacks and multiple blocks to put Arellano back in the game at 8-7. Aiko Urdas and Jaja Santiago then took over as they stepped up on their attacks, paving the way for a Marites Pablo off the block kill, snatching the set from the Lady Chiefs.
Former UAAP Season 75 Rookie of the Year, Urdas led the Lady Bulldogs on its hot star in the fourth set with a 5-3 lead, but Salamagos scored two quick attacks to tie it at five apiece. From there, the two squads exchanged attacks all-throughout. Guest player, Lilet Mabbayad blocked Santiago to put the Lady Chiefs in the driver’s seat at 21-20. Afterwards Elaine Sagun and Aganon put the finishing touches in getting Arellano their second win this conference.
Despite the victory over the Lady Bulldogs, Arellano Coach Roberto Javier is not satisfied since their opponent was without Santiago-Manabat and the elder Pablo, who are in Vietnam to represent the country in the VTV cup.
“Masaya dahil tinalo naming an NU, pero kulang sila kaya hindi maganda,” said Javier.
Tubeira led Arellano with 13 points, all coming from attacks, while Aganon and Henson added 11 and 10 markers apiece.
Santiago finished with 20 points to topscore the Lady Bulldogs, with Urdas and Singh chipping 14 and 11 points respectively
The Lady Chiefs will face the University of Batangas Lady Brahmans on August 1 at 3:00 PM, while the Lady Bulldogs next assignment is against the PUP Lady Radicals on August 2 at 5:00 PM at the same venue.
The scores:
AU (3)– Tubiera 13, Aganon 11,Henson 10, Salamagos 9, Sagun 4, Rosario 2, Prado 2, Mabbayad 1, Carino 0, Ramirez 0, Legacion 0, Galang (L), Ibasa(L)
NU (1)Â – J. Santiago 20, Urdas 14, Singh 11, Paran 4, Perez 3, Ma.Pablo 3,Doria 3,Nabor 2, Diolan 0,General (L)
