NATIONAL University continued its immaculate run to three games after taking down erstwhile co-leader University of Santo Tomas in four sets, 25-20, 25-19, 19-25, 25-21, in UAAP Season 85 Men’s Volleyball tournament, Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The win saw the Bulldogs in the solitary hold of the first spot at 3-0 while dealing the Golden Spikers their first loss after two straight wins.
NU had to crawl back in the fourth set to fashion out the win after trailing 6-8 early in the frame. Setter and captain Joshua Retamar eventually found his points of attack, going to his percentage attackers Ken Malinis and Michaelo Buddin for the finish.
Buddin posted a game-high 21 points off 16 spikes and two service aces, while Nico Almedras and Malinis added 17 and 13 markers, respectively.
This came as a result of the skipper Retamar’s impressive playmaking, producing 23 excellent sets.
“Kinailangan talaga naming manalo kasi sa sitwasyon namin, nakalaban namin sila nung V-League. Kaya sinabi ko sa mga players ko na kailangan namin tong game na ‘to,” coach Dante Alinsunurin said.
“Nag-adjust lang rin kami dun sa nangyari nung V-League, pero sinabi ko lang sa kanila na kailangan naming mag-focus sa kung anong gusto nating mangyari sa loob ng court. Siguro, lesson learned lang sa naging sitwasyon namin before,” he added.
The Bulldogs went into the early lead in the first two sets, getting their attacks to go with Almendras and Buddin stepping up on offense at the onset.
Errors from the defending champions and their own net defense kept the Golden Spikers in the said frames, but eventually NU found a way to close out the sets.
UST, though, crawled their way back in the third set with Josh Ybanez and Jay Dela Noche reeling them back to a 16-13 lead in the second technical timeout up to a 25-19 finish.
Ybanez willed the Golden Spikers with 20 points, 17 coming from attacks to go with two service aces and one block. Meanwhile, Dela Noche ended with 14 markers on 12 spikes and two blocks.
NU (3-0) will try to keep the streak going when it faces University of the Philippines (2-0) on Wednesday, 12 p.m., at the PhilSports Arena. Meanwhile, UST (2-1) will look to bounce back against Adamson University (0-3) earlier in the day at 10 a.m.
