Adamson University extended its winning streak to eight in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 86 High School Girls’ Volleyball tournament following a 25-13, 25-10, 25-12 romp of De La Salle Santiago Zobel School on Thursday at the Adamson Gym in Ermita, Manila.
Leading by just four at 13-9, the Lady Baby Falcons took advantage of the attack errors and defensive lapses from the Junior Lady Spikers to pull away to a 17-9 with a Shaina Nitura hit.
Back-to-back kills from Jennel Arasan, one off an overpass and one from a second-ball attack, eventually closed that 12-3 closing run to finish the third and the match.
DLSZ showed some semblance of resistance at the start of the three sets, especially at the onset of the match, leaning on their net defense with Cassandra Gamboa taking charge.
Still, Adamson, through its setter Felicity Sagaysay, eventually found some open spots from the former’s floor defense to produce points on the attack with captain Nitura leading the way.
Adamson coach JP Yude saw the other girls step up in the second set, paced by substitute playmaker Arasan and opposite hitter Mishka Estrada to consequently take the 2-0 advantage in the match, and never looked back for its eighth victory in as many matches.
The Junior Lady Spikers slipped to a 3-5 win-loss card after back-to-back wins against the University of the Philippines Integrated School.
On the other hand, Far Eastern University-Diliman carved a bounce-back win, venting ire at Ateneo High School, 25-10, 25-12, 25-13 in the second encounter of the day.
The Lady Baby Tamaraws needed to fend off a slow start in all three sets played to eventually pull away from the gutsy Blue Eagles. Shiela Pascual and Elizza Alimen were solid in providing the points in the mid-frame runs from FEU-D, with occasional kills from middle blocker Clarisse Loresco.
Fittingly, it was Alimen and Princess Tumayao who ended the match with their back-to-back points, sealing the much-needed win for their squad.
FEU-D kept its spot in second place with the victory into a 6-2 win-loss card, staying in step with the undefeated Adamson in the race to the Final Four.
Closing out the day with a victory is University of Santo Tomas in an even dominant three-setter over UPIS, 25-6, 25-4, 25-8, for its fifth win and snapping a two-game slide from league-leaders Adamson and FEU-D.
