MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs bested the Adamson Lady Falcons in 4 sets, 25-15, 25-23, 16-25, 25-13, on Saturday, February 3, at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Jaja Santiago led the Lady Bulldogs with 11 spikes, 4 blocks and one service ace that tallied to a total of 16 points. Risa Sato and Joni Chavez made 9 excellent digs apiece. 

Chiara Permentilla and Mylene Paat both scored double digits of 12 and 11 points, respectively to lead the Adamson Lady Falcons. 

After Adamson prevented the Lady Bulldogs from sweeping the match, NU managed to stretch the lead to 10 points, 19-9. The Lady Bulldogs maintained the double digit lead and back-to-back blocks surrendered the game to NU. 

The Adamson Lady Falcons took the lead early in the first set until NU countered with 5 straight points. Team Captain Santiago made the first service ace of the season as NU went up by 7 points, 21-14. Urdas followed with another ace at set point to take the 1-0 lead for NU, 25-15.

The Lady Bulldogs limited Adamson to 3 points at the first technical timeout in the second set, 8-3. Adamson managed to cut the deficit to 1 after Joy Dacoron’s service ace, 10-9. Mylene Paat turned the tables for Adamson as she scored two straight points to nab the lead, 14-12.

Risa Sato made back-to-back aces to tie the score at 22-all. Santiago brought NU back to the set point once again and Roselyn Doria’s block denied Adamson from taking the second set.

The Lady Falcons rallied back in the 3rd set and stretched the lead to 16-9. Tonnie Ponce made a crucial shot from the backrow and NU failed to receive her attack which saw Adamson lead by 10. Permentilla finally denied NU of taking the game in straight sets as her attack ended the 3rd set at 25-16. 

The Scores:

NU (91) – Santiago 16, Paran 9, Urdas 9, Sato 8, Doria 8, Nabor 5, Singh 1.

AdU (76) – Permentilla 12, Paat 11, Dacoron 9, Soyud 7, Galanza 6, Emnas 4, Perez 2, Ponce 1. 

Set Scores: 25-15, 25-23, 16-25, 25-13.

– Rappler.com