National University Lady Bulldogs secured a semifinals slot in defeating University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses in straight sets, 25-22, 25-23, 25-11 in the Shakeys V-League Collegiate Conference at the FilOil Flying V Arena, Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Bulldogs didn’t give UST a chance to take the lead all through out the first set. Dindin Santiago-Manabat, Jaja Santiago and Jorella Singh led the charge in keeping the España-based squad at bay with the Golden Tigresses struggling to create an offensive rhythm as they played catch-up against the Lady Bulldogs, despite National University committing numerous errors in the set.
Both teams exchanged points in the early frame of the second set with EJ Laure scoring on a kill to give UST a 7-5 lead. Myla Pablo answered back in scoring through the block, cutting the lead 7-6. Unfortunately for the Lady Bulldogs, Manabat committed a service error to hand UST an 8-6 lead in the first technical timeout. Alyssa Teope, Carmela Tunay, Pamela Lastimosa conspired to build the Golden Tigresses biggest lead in the set with 17-11 but the Lady Bulldogs, behind Singh,Santiago and Pablo was able to lift the Sampaloc-based squad to a 19-18 lead against UST. Both teams once again exchanged points and errors before EJ Laure scored a corner shot to tied the game at 23 all, UST guest player Carla Sandoval committed a service error to put the Lady Bulldogs at set point and Santiago unleashed a quick attack to give National University a two sets to none set advantage.
In the third set, with the Lady Bulldogs at 8-5 advantage, National University slowly put away the match from UST behind the efforts of Manabat, Santiago, Singh and Pablo as the Golden Tigresses struggled to produce any offense, as well as committing multiple errors, hindering them from countering the offensive prowess of the Lady Bulldogs.
After the game Lady Bulldogs Head Coach Roger Gorayeb said the Lady Bulldogs committed a lot of errors in the first set, but luckily for them the Golden Tigresses didn’t play well. He did, however, credit UST for playing a good second set against the Lady Bulldogs.
“Mababa ang nilaro ng UST sa first set, sa first set pa lang 14 ang errors namin, sa second set maganda ang nilaro ng UST kaya naghahabol kami,” said Gorayeb.
Manabat led the Lady Bulldogs in double figures with 13 points, 10 points coming from attacks with three blocks, Pablo came through with 11 points while Santiago and Singh contributed 10 points apiece. The Lady Bulldogs assure themselves a Semi Finals berth with a 5-1 record, good for solo second place.
Tunay finished with eight points while Lastimosa and Laure had a seven and six points respectively. The Tigresses drop to a 4-2 slate, tied with FEU.
The Lady Bulldogs will wrap their quarterfinals campaign against fellow semifinalist, UAAP champion Ateneo De Manila University Lady Eagles on September 5 at 12:45 PM. The Golden Tigresses will face the defending Collegiate Conference champion Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws at 3:00 PM on the same day. Both FEU and UST will have an easier road to the Semi Finals should the Arellano University Lady Chiefs drop their last quarterfinals assignment against the College of Saint Benilde Lady Blazers on the following day at 3:00 PM.
The Scores:
NU(3) – Manabat 13, Pablo 11, Singh 10, Santiago 10, Doromal 2, Urdas 1, Nabor 1, Paran 0, Doria 0, Diolan 0, Perez 0, General (L)
UST(0) – Tunay 8, Lastimosa 7, Laure 6, De Leon 4, Meneses 2, Teope 2, Verutiao 1, Cortez 0, Sandoval 0, Francisco 0, Ramso (L), Hanchero (L)
