Adamson University shook off a rusty start to sweep past University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, 25-19, 25-21, 25-16, and secure the first finals seat in the 2023 Shakey’s Super League National Invitationals yesterday at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
The Lady Falcons needed some time to find their groove to turn back the feisty Lady Altas in the knockout semifinal and advance to the best-of-three championship series slated to begin on Wednesday.
Head coach JP Yude admitted that it was not the start that he wanted but still praised his wards for stepping up to the challenge given by Perpetual, which gatecrashed into the Final Four after beating favored National Collegiate Athletic Association back-to-back champion College of Saint Benilde in the quarterfinals.
“Sometimes we can’t help having a slow start. But I always remind them to start strong and finish strong. They struggled in the early going of the game against Perpetual but good thing, in the end, we got the win,” Yude said of his squad that needed a huge late run to steal the second set before running away early in the third.
Lady Falcons young stars Ayesha Juegos and Rochelle Lalongisip went red-hot on offense as they peppered the surprise semifinalist Perpetual with 29 and 21 points, respectively.
Adamson will face in the title showdown the survivor between reigning University Athletic Association of the Philippines champion De La Salle University and University of Santo Tomas, who are playing as of press time.
“First of its God’s will that we got to the finals. Now we have to prepare for it,” Yude said.
“For me, I prefer to face La Salle so that we can see where my players’ level is at. La Salle have taller players and are the defending champion of the UAAP. But whoever we meet in the finals we’ll be ready.”
Juegos smacked 16 Adamson’s 41 total attack points, Lucille Almonte had 10 spikes in her 15-point performance while Lorene Toring got 10 points.
The Lady Falcons had quite a scare in the second frame after barely escaping the opening frame with the Lady Altas looking poised to pull off an equalizer with a comfortable, 21-17 lead.
But Adamson refused to yield as it ignited a scorching 8-0 closing salvo to steal the second set for a 2-0 match lead.
Beaming with confidence, the Lady Falcons quickly took the fight out of the disheartened Lady Altas with a 6-0 start that ballooned to a 19-10 cushion off an Almonte crosscourt hit.
Perpetual trimmed its deficit to 14-19 but Adamson quickly widened the gap back to nine, 24-15, off a Juegos kill.
Shaila Omipon finished with 17 points, Razel Aldea had 16 while Charmaine Ocado produced 14 points for the Lady Altas. Reigning NCAA Most Valuable Player Rhose Dapol had a quiet nine points for Perpetual.
The Lady Altas will play the loser between the Lady Spikers and the Tigresses in the best-of-three battle for bronze.
