MANILA, Philippines – As expected of defending champions, the NU Lady Bulldogs stayed spotless in the early goings of the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball tournament, routing the heavy-hearted Ateneo Blue Eagles, 25-23, 25-19, 25-15, at the FilOil EcoOil Centre on Wednesday, February 19.
Star setter Lams Lamina stayed hot with 14 excellent sets in limited game time after 20 excellent sets in her season debut against La Salle, while Alyssa Solomon led with a game-high 12 points.
Fellow star hitters Vange Alinsug and two-time UAAP MVP Bella Belen scored 10 and 9, respectively, as NU rose to a 2-0 record after seizing full control with a 7-1 breakaway run in the third set to transform a slim 11-9 lead to an insurmountable 18-10 gap.
“Of course, we’re so happy with the total team effort that happened this game. Hopefully, the team improves further in our next games,” said NU head coach Sherwin Meneses in Filipino.
“We’re happy with our performance, though we have a lot to improve on,” Solomon added in Filipino. “As Lams said, we had a lot of unnecessary errors, so that’s the No. 1 thing we have to work on tomorrow.”
Four players scored at least 8 points in the losing cause, led by 9 from captain Lyann de Guzman as Ateneo slid to a 0-2 slate.
Meanwhile, the NU men’s team went through the wringer against Ateneo in the first game of the day’s quadruple-header, squeezing by with a razor-thin four-set win, 23-25, 26-24, 27-25, 29-27, on the heels of Leo Ordiales’ 14 points and Peng Taguibolos’ 7-attack, 6-block eruption for a 2-0 start.
Ken Batas led all scorers in the heartbreaking loss with 21 points as Ateneo went down to 1-1 for the season. – Rappler.com