MANILA, Philippines – The La Salle Lady Spikers continue to have no solution to their biggest hurdle in UAAP women’s volleyball as the mighty NU Lady Bulldogs stayed undefeated off a 25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 25-18 win at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday, March 23.
With their third straight win over the Lady Spikers in the bag, the Lady Bulldogs rose to 8-0 for the season with an 11-game winning streak, dating back to their Season 86 Final Four Game 1 shock sweep loss to FEU. La Salle, meanwhile, landed on a three-way standings logjam with FEU and UST at 5-3.
Reigning two-time MVP Bella Belen, again the MVP frontrunner for Season 87, showed exactly why she leads the race one more time with another stat sheet stuffer line of 23 points off 17 attacks, 4 blocks, and 2 aces to go with 17 excellent receptions, and 7 excellent digs.
Alyssa Solomon, sixth on the MVP ladder, backstopped Belen anew with 19 points, while Season 87 Best Setter frontrunner and Season 84 award winner Lams Lamina tossed 21 excellent sets.
After splitting the match even after the first two frames, both sides engaged in a heated swag-fest battle to highlight the pivotal third-set swing, trading staredowns, hair flips, and all manner of friendly taunts all while NU gradually rose to a 22-16 lead on the back of an earlier 9-2 rally that it never gave up.
It was the same story at the turn of the fourth as the Lady Bulldogs firmly held momentum with a Belen-led 13-8 start before La Salle staged a comeback attempt to get within two, 19-17.
However, the Lady Spikers shot themselves in the foot with three straight errors from their two leaders Angel Canino and Shevana Laput after a Belen hit at 20-17 for a crucial 4-0 swing in total and the 23-17 separation.
La Salle only managed a single point in retaliation before Solomon hammered a facial hit on Mikole Reyes, and before Canino tallied one last error on a net touch to hand NU the easy fourth-set finish.
Laput, second on the MVP ladder, paced the loss with 19 points, followed by 15 points and 21 excellent receptions from Canino, the fourth-running MVP candidate and former winner in Season 85. – Rappler.com