Nazareth School of National U and De La Salle-Lipa pulled through with a pair of lopsided victories over their fellow fancied rivals to clinch the top seeding at the close of the 18-and-under Rebisco Volleyball League elims at the Sta. Rosa Multi-Purpose Sports Complex in Laguna.
The NSNU girls stepped up their title drive with a 25-15, 25-23 triumph over the Hope Christian High School side in Pool A while the Batangas-based squad stopped the host Holy Rosary College team, 25-14, 25-18, in Pool B in a pair of duels of unbeaten teams in the event sponsored by Rebisco.
NSNU and DLL thus finished the elims with 5-0 cards while Hope CHS and HRC settled for No. 2 with 4-1 records at the end of the elims of the two-division tournament organized by Metropolitan Sports and Events Group, Inc. headed by Freddie Infante.
The victories also set up NSNU against HRC and De La Salle-Lipa versus Hope Christian in a pair of explosive crossover semifinal matches being played at presstime.
The winners will dispute the crown in the country’s longest talent-search backed by Asics and Mikasa at 5 p.m. today (Sunday).
In other results, Bacolod Tay Tung High School routed Angelicum Learning Center of Cagayan de Oro, 25-16, 25-17, to finish third in Pool B with a 3-2 slate while University of San Jose-Recoletos posted its second straight win after three losses, repulsing FEU-Diliman, 22-25, 25-20, 25-15. FEU wound up with a 1-4 slate while Angelicum dropped all its five matches.
University of Mindanao-Tagum ended up third in Pool A with a 3-2 record, including a 25-16, 25-19 triumph over Koronadal National Comprehensive HS, while Holy Family Academy of Pampanga turned back Leyte National School, 25-21, 16-25, 25-20, to wind up tied for fourth with LNS and KNC with 1-4 marks.
Rebisco has stepped in to boost the sport’s grassroots program with the league producing current stars Alyssa Valdez, Jaja Santiago and Jasmine Nabor. The country’s leading snack-food company has earlier sponsored the national team’s participation in the Asian Seniors Women’s Championship in Laguna, the Asian Women’s Volleyball Club Championship in Kazakhstan and the recent smash-hit Battle of the Rivals, which pitted Ateneo against La Salle.