MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs snapped their skid with a four-set victory over the Adamson Lady Falcons, 28-26, 32-20, 25-21,25-22, in the UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday, March 31 at the Mall of Asia Arena.

Playing with a healthy Ivy Lacsina this time, NU snatched its third win to improve to 3-7 after the match that kicked off with a pair of grueling extended sets.

Roselyn Doria led NU with 18 points off 12 attacks, 5 aces and 1 block.

Jennifer Nierva anchored the Lady Bulldogs’ floor defense with 44 excellent digs and 33 excellent receptions.

“Kung eager sila manalo, mas eager kami kasi naghahanap kami ng panalo. Lahat ng sakripisyo namin sa training, inapply namin,” said captain Doria.

(If Adamson was eager to win, we’re even more eager. We sacrificed everything in training and we applied it in the game.)

Bernadette Flora led Adamson with 16 points off 12 attacks and 4 aces to go with 21 digs.

The loss kept the Lady Falcons at the bottom of the standings at 1-9 and officially eliminated them from Final Four contention.

The last time Adamson made it to the Final Four was in 2014, where they fell to eventual first-time champion Ateneo.

The Lady Falcons had control early in the 1st set, but the Lady Bulldogs stayed within reach and extended the match thanks to Gelina Luceño.

A Luceño ace gifted NU with set point and Roselyn Doria closed out the opening frame with back-to-back quick attacks, 28-26.

Although the Lady Falcons bounced back with a dominant 8-2 start in the next frame, NU quickly overturned the huge deficit as Robles’ ace pushed them ahead, 11-10.

NU yielded the lead anew due to a slew of errors, but the Lady Bulldogs exploded with an 8-2 run to reach set point, 24-23.

The Lady Falcons, however, did not falter as they extended the set until Joy Dacoron evened the match with back-to-back spikes for a 32-20 set win.

In the 3rd set, Doria’s 4 straight aces gave the Lady Bulldogs the edge. Adamson’s Eli Soyud attempted to spark a rally, but her own service error gifted NU a 2-1 match advantage.

Despite committing errors early in the 4th set, NU seized control midway through the frame and pulled through to complete its revenge. – Rappler.com