Adamson University extended its winning streak to eight in the UAAP Season 86 High School Girls’ Volleyball tournament following a 25-13, 25-10, 25-12 romp of De La Salle Santiago Zobel School on Thursday at the Adamson Gym in Ermita, Manila.
Leading by just four at 13-9, the Lady Baby Falcons took advantage of the attack errors and defensive lapses from the Junior Lady Spikers to pull away to a 17-9 with a Shaina Nitura hit.
Back-to-back kills from Jennel Arasan, one off an overpass and one from a second-ball attack, eventually closed that 12-3 closing run to finish the third and the match.
“Happy ako sa performance nila kahit na may mga nararamdaman ‘yung iba sa kanila at may ilang days silang hindi nakakapag-practice. But still, not contended, kailangan pa naming trabahuhin next games because matibay kalaban namin next game eh, NU(NS),” said head coach JP Yude.
“Kailangan naming maging consistent sa service-receive. Para kumbaga sa atake namin, makuha namin, hindi kami mahirapan. At para hindi kami mahirapan sa depensa at pagtingin sa atake ng kalaban,” he added.
DLSZ showed some semblance of resistance at the start of the three sets, especially at the onset of the match, leaning on their net defense with Cassandra Gamboa taking charge.
Nonetheless, Adamson, through its setter Felicity Sagaysay, eventually found some open spots from the former’s floor defense to produce points on the attack with captain Nitura leading the way.
Yude also saw the other girls step up in the second set, paced by substitute playmaker Arasan and opposite hitter Mishka Estrada to consequently take the 2-0 advantage in the match, and never looked back for its eighth victory in as many matches.
The Junior Lady Spikers slipped to a 3-5 win-loss card after back-to-back wins against University of the Philippines Integrated School.
On the other hand, Far Eastern University-Diliman carved a bounce-back win, venting ire at Ateneo High School, 25-10, 25-12, 25-13 in the second encounter of the day.
The Lady Baby Tamaraws needed to fend off a slow start in all three sets played to eventually pull away from the gutsy Blue Eagles. Shiela Pascual and Elizza Alimen were solid in providing the points in the mid-frame runs from FEU-D, with occasional kills from middle blocker Clarisse Loresco.
Fittingly, it was Alimen and Princess Tumayao who ended the match with their back-to-back points. sealing the much-needed win for their squad.
“Buti naka-recover, kasi dapat pataas na ‘yung morale nila kasi second round na ‘to eh. Dapat kaming manalo sa mga next games namin. Basta kami, ginagawa namin is step-by-step lang kami, kung sino ‘yung nasa harap namin, ‘yun lang ang kakalabanin namin,” said FEU-D head coach RJ del Rosario.
“Sana tuloy ‘yung fighting spirit ng mga bata, pati ‘yung disiplina: ‘yun ang number one d’yan eh. Lalo na next game is against UST, natalo namin sila nung first round, kaya siyempre babawi ‘yan,” he added.
FEU-D kept their spot in second place with the victory into a 6-2 win-loss card, staying in step with the undefeated Adamson in the race to the Final Four.
Closing out the day with a victory is University of Santo Tomas in an even dominant three-setter against UPIS, 25-6, 25-4, 25-8, for its fifth win and snapping a two-game slide from league-leaders Adamson and FEU-D.
UST captain and last season’s Best Opposite Hitter Margaret Althea found help from Jacquelin Lipat and Lianne Penuliar in this quick win over the Fighting Maroons.
The win pushed the Junior Golden Tigresses to solo third with a 5-3 slate, just ahead of the idle National University Nazareth School at 4-3.
The Blue Eagles remained in sixth at 1-6 ahead of the Fighting Maroons, who are still searching for their first win at 0-8.
