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Philippines
Thursday, March 28, 2024

Lady Maroons stay in hunt

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UNIVERSITY of the Philippines chalked up its second straight shut-out win after a five-set defeat to Adamson, crushing St. Benilde side, 25-19, 25-13, 25-19, to bolster its semifinal bid in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.

Save for their shaky windup in the first and third frames, it was all the Lady Maroons’ show as the Diliman-based squad ripped the Blazers’ defense with 38 spikes and produced eight blocks and seven aces to complete the 67-minute romp.

UP thus forced a three-way tie for second with Arellano and San Beda behind Adamson’s 3-0 card heading to the homestretch of the single round elims of the season-ending conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.

Diana Carlos hammered in 14 hits, including 12 attack points, while Marian Buitre added 10 hits and Isa Molde and Justine Dorog added eight markers each for the Lady Maroons, who survived the Blazers’ fierce comeback from 8-19 down in the third to within 19-21.

UP’s Diana Carlos (left) hammers in a kill against St. Benilde’s Ranya Musa and Diane Ventura during their PVL Collegiate Conference duel at The Arena in San Juan.

Coming off a huddle, the Lady Maroons scored the last four points to frustrate the Blazers with setter Rose Mary Cailing finishing off the Taft-based squad on a 1-2 play. Cailing also outclassed St. Benilde’s playmaker Pauline Cardiente with 24 excellent sets, 15 more than her counterpart.

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The Blazers’ struggled with their offense all game with Marites Pablo, Diane Ventura and Ranya Musa scoring four points each at best with team practically closing in the first and last sets on the Lady Maroons’ series of unforced errors.

The loss, its third straight, also virtually booted out St. Benilde from the Final Four race in the tournament backed by Mikasa and Asics.

Earlier, Far Eastern U joined Ateneo in the men’s Final Four with a 25-22, 27-25, 25-21 victory over winless St. Benilde for a 4-1 card.

National U also stayed in the semis hunt as it subdued UST, 25-21, 17-25, 27-25, 25-23, for a 2-2 slate.

The Tigers dropped to 2-3 while the Blazers bowed out with a 0-4 mark.

Ateneo took the first semis berth with a sweep of its first five games with La Salle eyeing the third seat with a 3-2 card while NU and UST are fighting it out for the last spot.

Games Saturday

8 a.m. – NU vs UP

10 a.m. – La Salle vs Ateneo

4 p.m. – UP vs San Beda

6:30 p.m. – SSC vs Ateneo

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