NU defeats UP to keep solo lead in volleyball
THE National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs stayed in solo lead in the standings as the first round of the eliminations of UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball drew to a close yesterday, beating the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Fighting Maroons in straight sets, 25-23, 25-23 and 25-17.
Absorbed their first defeat in their previous match, NU made sure not to go down in consecutive times by playing to their strengths while taking advantage of the errors committed by UP en route to claiming its sixth win in seven matches to stay on top of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) heap after round one.
Momentum swung back and forth in the first set with the two teams not allowing each other to run away.
UP took the first two breaks of the match, leading NU, 8-7 and 16-13, in that order.
But the Lady Bulldogs started biting after with setter Jasmine Nabor providing the motor.
They first tied the count at 16all off the second technical timeout before outscoring the Lady Maroons, 6-2, to take a 22-18 lead heading into the windup.
Ariel Estranero tried to rally UP back with services aces, allowing the Lady Maroons to come within one point, 24-23.
No UP comeback would be fashioned out though as NU held on tight to book the set win.
With their confidence boosted by their win in the previous set, the Lady Bulldogs had added bounce to start the second.
They raced to an 8-4 lead early on and staved off every attempt by the Lady Maroons to come back to stay ahead, 16-13, midway into the frame.
Tots Carlos, however, fueled a Lady Maroons fight back that had them overtaking NU by two points, 19-17.
NU leveled the score at 19-all after which they fought to a 21-21 affair.
Jaja Santiago would exert her might with solid attacks to move the Lady Bulldogs to set point, 24-23.
UP had a chance to force a set extension, but a service error by Marist Layug dashed her team’s hope as they went two sets down.
The Lady Bulldogs remained in the driver’s seat to begin the third set.
UP showed some fight as the frame progressed, closing the gap to a solitary point, 9- 8, only to have another service error halt the momentum it had built.
From then on it was all NU putting on the gas, racing to a 1612 lead by the second technical knockout and never looking back to smash the victory.
Santiago paced the Lady Bulldogs (6-1) anew, finishing with 17 points, 16 coming from attacks and one block.
Risa Sato added 10 points with Nabor and Roselyn Doria adding six points apiece.
UP, meanwhile, was paced Carlos’ 15 with Isa Molde tallying 11 points.
“Coming off a loss in our last game, we just came out with more focus today and stayed loose even when at times things were not going our way,” said player-of-thegame Santiago after their win.
“This is a big win for us. We can use the momentum from this game as a stepping stone heading into the next round which is going to be a whole new round,” she added.
With the loss, UP finished the first round with a 2-5 record, good for joint sixth place with the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses.