Defending champion National University swiftly crushed hapless Emilio Aguinaldo College, 25-15, 25-7, 25-13, for a second straight win and a share of the Pool A lead in the 2024 Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship on Friday, Oct. 11, at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The three-peat-seeking Lady Bulldogs picked up from where they left off a week ago following a four-set win over Ateneo de Manila University to climb up the top spot tied with idle Arellano University (2-0).
NU barely broke a sweat in disposing of the Lady Generals in 77 minutes to boost its chances of securing a playoffs seat 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.
Arah Panique led the way for the Lady Bulldogs with 10 points including eight from attacks while Bella Belen and reigning tournament Most Valuable Player Alyssa Solomon added seven markers each.
NU rained down 41 kills compared to only 11 by EAC, tallied 10 kill blocks and took advantage of the Lady Generals’ spotty reception to land 10 aces capped by Panique’s back-to-back service winners to seal the victory.
Although it was a lopsided win, the Lady Bulldogs still gave away 22 free points to the Lady Bulldogs off their errors.
“Ang challenge ngayon is marami pa kaming errors and siguro work on sa mga kulang pa namin and kailangan pang i-improve,” said Panique, a member of Alas Pilipinas.
The Lady Bulldogs were so dominant that the second set was won in just 20 minutes with Belen and Solomon leading a crew of mostly second stringers.
NU raced to an 11-0 lead and cruised from there. Out of the seven points scored by EAC in the second frame, six came from the Lady Bulldogs’ errors.
The Lady Generals slipped to a 0-2 card with only four players putting up points led by Alessandra Razonable’s five markers.
Meanwhile, Far Eastern University (2-0) aims to complete a sweep of Pool D and secure a playoffs seat against Adamson University (1-0) in today’s 4 p.m. main game of the tournament supported by 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.
Undefeated Arellano guns for a third straight win and the solo lead against Ateneo de Manila University (1-1) in the 11:30 a.m. curtain-raiser while facing off in the other Pool A pairing are winless teams San Beda University (0-2) and EAC at 2 p.m.
SSL games are aired live and on-demand via Puso Pilipinas, SMART Livestream, Solar Sports Channel 70 on Sky Cable and Channel 59 on Cable Link.
