After giving up a tournament-record 51 errors in their previous outing, the National University Bulldogs powered through another error-filled five-set outing against the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 27-25, 25-18, 22-25, 19-25, 15-12, at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
Already assured of a Final Four spot, the Bulldogs continued an alarming trend after surrendering 40 errors. NU, however, still overpowered their Katipunan counterparts with their superior offense.
NU’s attacking and blocking came in clutch in the fifth set, as the spikers from Jhocson used a short 4-0 spurt to put the match away for good in the fifth frame, 14-10.
“May tendency pa siguro talaga ‘yung team mag-relax kapag nasa ganoong sitwasyon na angat kami. Isa talaga ‘yun sa mga talagang nire-remedyohan namin. Makikita naman ng team na lahat talaga ng team lalaban sa amin. Hindi pwedeng i-expect namin na bibigay sa amin ‘yung kalaban,” said NU head coach Dante Alinsunurin.
The Bulldogs finished with 66 attack points, 16 more than UP, to make up for their errors. Veteran open hitter Fauzi Ismail tallied a career-high 30 points, while third-year left-pin spiker Bryan Bagunas added 23 points.
The Bulldogs improved to 11-1, way ahead of the third-seeded Far Eastern University Tamaraw,s who have a 6-6 slate. They face cellar-dwellers University of the East (1-11) on Sunday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
Sophomore Mark Millete and skipper Wendel Miguel each provided 17 points for the Fighting Maroons.
The Maroon Spikers dropped to fifth place with a 5-7 record. They face FEU in a must-win on Sunday, also at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.
The Scores
NU (3) – Ismail 30, Bagunas 23, Natividad 10, Malabunga 8, Saura 5, Dayandante 2, Baysac 1, Gampong 1, Marcos (L)
UP (2) – Miguel 17, Millete 17, Valbuena 14, San Pascual 7, Castillo 6, Baldelovar 2, San Pedro 2, Acuna 0, Luna (L), Nasol (L)
