Arellano University barely broke a sweat in a 25-17, 25-16, 25-12, disposal of cold-hitting Emilio Aguinaldo College in the 2024 Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Lady Chiefs only needed one hour and 26 minutes to submit the Lady Generals and join Ateneo de Manila University in Pool A’s debut winners list.
Arellano rained down 43 attacks and took advantage of EAC’s 25 miscues for a quick workout in the tournament backed by Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, GCash, Chery Tiggo, F2 Logistics, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Potato Corner, R and B Milk Tea and Summit Water.
Laika Tudlasan led the Lady Chiefs’ balanced offense with 10 points while Kacelyn Punzalan and Mauie Magaling added eight and six markers, respectively.
“Grateful po kami kasi preparations po namin sabi ng mga coaches na ngayon na yung test na maa-apply yung pinaghirapan namin for months,” said Tudlasan, who had nine kills.
The Lady Chiefs pulled away early in the third set, racing to a 15-4 advantage that eventually ballooned to 24-11 after a Pauline De Guzman off the block hit.
“Maganda po ‘yung communication and saya namin sa team. Parang ang gaan ngayon kasi may tiwala kami sa isa’t isa,” Tudlasan added.
EAC kept the game close in the early goings of the first two sets only to watch Arellano pull away with a barrage of attacks.
No Lady General reached double-figure scoring with Erica Bodonal finishing with six points and Cara Dayanan firing five as EAC was limited to just 19 attack points.
Meanwhile, Ateneo de Manila University pulled a reverse sweep over San Beda University, 22-25, 20-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-7, in Pool A late Saturday.
The Blue Eagles got their acts together to steal the last three sets after getting outplayed in the first two for a hard-earned debut victory in the tournament which has Smart Sports, PLDT Fibr, Mikasa, Asics, Rebel Sports, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Commission on Higher Education (CHED), Philippine Sports Commission (PSC), SM Tickets as technical partners.
Veteran winger Lyann De Guzman led the way for Ateneo, finishing with 17 points off 14 kills, two aces and a kill block.
De Guzman powered the Blue Eagles’ uprising in the third and fourth frames but it was the duo of Jennifer Santos and Geezel Tsunashima that finished the job in the deciding frame.
Delos Santos scored three of her 12 markers in the fifth set while Tsunashima delivered four of her 11 points in the final frame for Ateneo, which will face debuting defending champion National University when action resumes on Friday.
Angel Habacon and Janelle Bachar paced the Lady Red Spikers with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
In the other Saturday result, Lyceum of the Philippines University bounced back from an opening day loss after outlasting Mapua University, 25-9, 19-25, 20-25, 26-24, 15-12, in Pool B.
The Lady Pirates banked on Johna Dolorito, Joan Doguna, Hiromi Osada and Janeth Tulang in the fifth frame where they combined for 11 points to barge into the win column after suffering a four-set loss to University of the East last Friday.
Dolorito fired 20 points with 17 coming off attacks, Osada and Doguna got 12 each while Tulang added 11 for Lyceum.
The Lady Cardinals, who squandered a 2-1 match lead, got 21 points from Alyanna Ong and 11 from Raissa Ricablanca.
