Perennial University Athletic Association of the Philippines forces De La Salle University and Adamson University swept past their separate counterparts to complete group sweep and march on to the quarterfinals of the 2023 Shakey’s Super League National Invitationals Tuesday at the Filoil EcoOil Center.
The reigning UAAP champion La Salle needed only 70 minutes to dispatch Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc. runner-up University of Southern Philippines Foundation, 25-14, 25-15, 25-19, while UAAP bronze medalist Adamson also blanked National Collegiate Athletic Association runner-up Lyceum, 25-17, 25-18, 25-22, in 71 minutes.
Alleiah Malaluan hammered 13 points built on 12 hits as La Salle swept Pool A of the historic SSL nationwide.
The Lady Spikers, who also drubbed University of Perpetual Help System Dalta in the opener, 25-11, 25-17, 25-12, drew ample support from Shevana Laput and Katrina Del Castillo with 10 points apiece.
But La Salle, without UAAP Rookie-Most Valuable Player Angel Canino and ace libero Justine Jazareno, is far from being satisfied entering the knockout playoffs.
“We still have many things to fix in our game, especially our connection with setters and spikers. Too many to fix including our unnecessary errors,” said assistant coach Noel Orcullo as La Salle also deals with the graduation of key cogs Jolina Dela Cruz, Mars Alba and Fifi Sharma.
Later, Lucille Almonte fired 10 points on six hits and four aces in the Lady Falcons’ second straight win under new coach JP Yude. Sharya Nicole Ancheta and Red Bascon added nine and seven points, respectively.
“Good thing we got past the eliminations. But we need to prepare who we are facing in the quarterfinals. The level of games is going higher and higher,” said Yude, who succeeded former Adamson mentor Jerry Yee.
The sweep of La Salle (2-0) in Pool A and Adamson (2-0) in Pool C also paved the way for quarterfinal entries of Perpetual (1-1) and Jose Maria College Foundation (1-1).
Perpetual finished second in Pool A after beating USPF while Mindanao bet JMFC clinched the last ticket from Pool C owing to an upset of Lyceum for the biggest revelation so far in the tourney.
