Defending champion National University moved closer to a sweep as Santo Tomas bounced back with a bang in Day 2 of the Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Collegiate Pre-Season Championship Season 2 playoffs over the weekend at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum in Manila.
Led by ace spiker Mhicaela Belen, the Lady Bulldogs drubbed the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 25-20, 25-18, 25-15, while the Golden Tigresses clobbered the Arellano Lady Chiefs, 25-16, 31-29, 25-18.
NU stretched its unbeaten run to five games to zero in on a No. 1 seed finish as UST stayed at the second spot with a 4-1 record in Pool E of the SSL Season 2 backed by Mikasa, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Summit Bottle Water, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, R and B Milk Tea, Potato Corner, Rebel Sports, Converge ICT Solutions, Genius Sports and United Auctioneers, Inc.
Belen, the former UAAP Rookie-MVP, unloaded 13 points on 11 attacks and two blocks to headline NU’s sweep of the retooled Ateneo side under the watch of Philippine men’s national team mentor Sergio Veloso.
The Lady Bulldogs, also under returning mentor Norman Miguel, needed only 84 minutes to take down the Blue Eagles to stay on track for a title retention bid after sweeping the inaugural season.
“Hindi po kami naka-kampante sa game. Lagi naming iniisip na meron pa kaming dapat i-improve which is nagagawa namin sa training kaya pagdating sa game, hindi na kami masyadong nahihirapan,” said Belen.
In the other game, Jonna Perdido fired 13 points while Angeline Poyos and Regina Jurado added 12 and seven points, respectively, in UST’s rebound against Arellano after absorbing its lone loss at the hands of NU.
“Kami po lahat, parang gigil manalo kaya po ganoon ‘yung performance namin this game,” said Jonna Perdido as the Golden Tigresses were quick to shrug off a revenge 25-19, 25-20, 25-16 defeat to the Lady Bulldogs.
UST finished fourth in the SSL Season 1 and third in the SSL National Invitationals this year, making it a mission to surpass those feats in the tougher tournament in cooperation with the Commission on Higher Education and the Philippine Sports Commission.
Arellano fell to 3-2 as Ateneo, at 2-3, remained winless in the playoffs, where all eight teams carried over their standings from the preliminary round for the final ranking in the quarterfinals featuring twice-to-beat incentives for the higher-ranked squads.
The Lady Chiefs stunned the Blue Eagles in the playoff opener, 25-21, 25-18, 25-21.
All games will be accessible across all platforms live and on-demand through the social media pages of Plus Network and SSL with Solar Sports, Blast TV and Aliw Channel 23 as TV partners.