Defending champions University of Batangas (UB) and Immaculada Concepcion College (ICC) have secured outright semifinal berths after defeating their respective rivals in the men’s and women’s divisions of the 2025 PG Flex-UCAL Season 8 Volleyball Championships, recently held at the UB Millennium Gym in Batangas City.
Drawing a dominant defensive effort from Christian Briones, the UB Brahmans dismantled the Philippine Women’s University (PWU) Patriots, 25-15, 25-17, 25-12, remaining undefeated after six games in the eight-team tournament.
UB’s sixth straight win — and 17th overall since last year’s grand title sweep — was enough to clinch one of the two automatic semifinal spots heading into the final week of the eliminations.
Briones led the charge with six blocks and a game-high eight points, matching Godwin Balazon, while Adrian Rosales contributed seven points to offset the subdued two-point outing of top gun Prince Ramirez.
Meanwhile, the ICC Lady Blue Hawks also locked in the first semifinals slot after a hard-fought 25-18, 26-24, 20-25, 25-15 victory over a resilient Lyceum of Batangas team.
JL Bravo led the Lady Blue Hawks with 13 points, preserving their flawless record in the tournament.
In the men’s division, ICC is also in contention for the other automatic semifinal berth with a 5-1 record, while Philippine Christian University-Dasmariñas (PCU-D) carries a 3-2 mark.
On the women’s side, three teams remain in the hunt for the second automatic Final Four slot: PCU-D at 5-1, and Lyceum of Batangas and Centro Escolar University (CEU), both holding 4-2 records.
The tournament, supported by Akari, Smart Sports, Spalding, Hapee Toothpaste, Mighty Bond, Quintana Sports, Vital Purified Drinking Water, Topflite, Crane and Maruyama, CafeFrance, and RC1 Lubricating Spray, will see the third- to sixth-place finishers in both divisions battle in a knockout quarterfinal round. The No. 3 team faces No. 6, while the No. 4 team clashes with No. 5 for the remaining semifinal spot.
