NU sweeps La Salle, forces do-or-die for finals berth

MANILA, Philippines – The Ateneo Lady Eagles will have to wait a little longer before finding out who they will face in the UAAP Season 77 women’s volleyball finals.

The NU Lady Bulldogs had no plans of leaving the tournament early, and their impressive play displayed that in their three-set victory over the DLSU Lady Spikers, 25-20, 25-20, 25-19, on Wednesday, March 4, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Due to La Salle’s twice-to-beat advantage in the stepladder playoffs format, the two teams will go head to head again on Saturday, March 7, to determine who faces the undefeated Lady Eagles in the finals.

It was La Salle’s first defeat of the season against a squad not named Ateneo.

NU coach Roger Gorayeb is proud of his team & hopes the Finals will feature his team #UAAPVolleyball @rapplerdotcom pic.twitter.com/5nHXyX9rpc

— Jane Bracher (@janebracher) March 4, 2015

“Masaya ako kasi nanalo kami. La Salle has the liberty to lose this game kasi twice to beat sila. Masaya ako napanalo naming first game pero syempre hindi naman kami pwede mag relax dito. Dami pang gagawin,” NU head coach Roger Gorayeb said after the contest.

(I’m happy because we won. La Salle has the liberty to lose this game because they have a twice to beat advantage. I’m happy we won the first game but of course, we can’t relax. There’s still a lot to do.)

“Whatever happens proud na ako sa mga bata,” Gorayeb later said. “In two months’ time, nagawa nila yung gusto ko mangyari sakanila. Sana mag tuloy tuloy para everybody happy naman.”

(Whatever happens I’m proud of the kids. In two months’ time, they were able to do what I aimed to accomplish with them. Hopefully it continues so everybody’s happy.)

Jaja Santiago and Myla Pablo each had 13 points as the Lady Bulldogs won their sixth straight game overall. Jorelle Singh was superb as well, compiling 11 points while Rizza Mandapat put up 10.

DLSU was out-spiked, 40-32, out-blocked, 11-9, and committed 19 errors that led to NU points.

National U came outs guns ablaze from the opening minute, racing off to an early lead in the first set that eventually ballooned to 22-14.

DLSU, looking to re-group, called for time and unfurled a 4-0 run, trimming the deficit to 22-18 in the process. But it was all NU from there, as a kill by Pablo eventually closed the set at 25-20.

Set two followed a similar script, but La Salle didn’t allow their adversaries to establish a lead as huge as the first set. Nonetheless, NU was still up 15-12 a little over the halfway mark, and then scored three of the next five conversions to go up 18-14.

DLSU countered with a 6-4 run to trim the deficit to two, but a block and service ace by Santiago put NU up 24-20 and awoke the Lady Bulldogs supporters at the Big Dome. Not long after, Santiago converted on another block to give her team a two sets to none advantage.

The third set looked like it was going the Lady Spikers’ way after they took a 13-11 lead following some block points, but NU responded by scoring seven of the game’s next 10 points.

A block score and service ace by Mandapat put her squad up 21-18, and NU would hold on the secure the win.

Ara Galang led La Salle with 14 points while Cyd Demecillo finished with 10 markers. Mika Reyes put up 8. – Rappler.com