National University Lady Bulldogs avenged their defeat last year in the Collegiate Conference finals against the reigning champions, the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws with a 20-25, 25-13, 25-21, 26-16 decision as they march to the finals of the Shakeys V-League Collegiate Conference at the FilOil Flying V Arena, Sunday afternoon.
The Lady Bulldogs had a slow start against the Lady Tamaraws in the first set. Toni Rose Basas and guest player Honey Royse Tubino conspired in creating some separation against their opponents as the Sampaloc-based squad was also hounded by errors in preventing them to get their footing against the Lady Tamaraws.
Come the second set, the Lady Bulldogs relied on Myla Pablo, who bombarded FEU with attacks as the Lady Tamaraws struggled to answer back on the offensive side, with errors coming from FEU also helping the Lady Bulldogs to take the set from the defending Collegiate Conference champion.
In the third set, with a slim 15-12 lead in favour of the Lady Bulldogs, Roselyn Doria, Jaja Santiago and Pablo committed attack errors to give the Lady Tamaraws a 16-15 lead in the second technical timeout. Afterwards both teams exchanged attacks to settle things all at 18 but Aiko Urdas, Jorella Singh and Pablo bailed out the Lady Bulldogs down the stretch with Pablo scoring through the block to close out the set.
The Lady Bulldogs had full control through most of the fourth set, as they established a 14-6 lead against the Lady Tamaraws. Guest player Jovelyn Gonzaga, Bernadeth Pons and Remy Palma tried to salvage the match for the Lady Tamaraws, but the Lady Bulldogs answered the mini comeback thanks to the efforts of Pablo, as NU made the Collegiate Conference finals for the third straight year.
After the game Lady Bulldogs Head Coach Roger Gorayeb expected the Lady Tamaraws to give a tough fight since they are the defending champion but luckily his team was able to recover.
“Expected naman namin, yung first set talaga lalaban ang FEU buti na lang nakarecover kami. Walang time ang FEU maka adjust at recover dahil talo sila kahapon at sinabi ko din sa mga bata na huwag ibaba ang intensity,” Gorayeb said.
Pablo led the Lady Bulldogs with 23 points who also got solid contributions from Santiago and Urdas who contributed with 17 and 11 markers apiece.
Gonzaga and Palma both topscored the Lady Tamaraws with 11 points while Basas chipped 10 points.
The Lady Bulldogs will face the winner of the semifinals series between the Ateneo Lady Eagles and the UST Golden Tigresses which is currently playing as of presstime.
The Scores:
NU (3) – Pablo 23, Santiago 17, Urdas 11, Singh 10, Doria 3, De Leon 1, Nabor 0, Doromal 0,Valdez (L), Doromal (L)
FEU (1) – Gonzaga 11, Palma 11, Basas 10, Tubino 6, Guino-o 3, Pons 2, Malabanan 2, Cayuna 1, Negrito 0, Hernandez 0, Atienza (L), Duremdes (L)
