La Salle completed a sweep of Pool C after bringing down pesky Jose Rizal University, 25-18, 25-20, 25-16, in the 2024 Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship Sunday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
Fielding mostly their young guns, the playoffs-bound Lady Spikers had a tough time putting away the unfazed Lady Bombers but showed composure in the closing stretch to grab their third win in as many starts.
Jyne Soreno waxed hot from the service line with six aces to go with four hits for 10 points to lead La Salle in capping a dominating first round 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.
“Lalo na’t mga bata ang kasama ko, nagtutulungan kami sa loob ng court. Maipasok lang talaga ang service, no errors, kasi dapat ma-maintain namin kung ano ‘yung ginawa namin sa training talaga. Dapat consistent sa lahat ng service,” Soreno said after accounting for more than half of the Lady Spikers’ 10 service winners.
Meanwhile, Far Eastern University survived Adamson University rookie Shaina Nitura’s 35-point explosion in a come-from-behind, 16-25, 25-22, 31-33, 25-20, 15-13, victory for a clean sweep of Pool D late Saturday.
Senior high winger Sandy Demain and middle blocker Katrina del Castillo also made their presence felt for La Salle. Demain fired 11 points, all coming off attacks, while Del Castillo added 10 markers.
Amor Guinto finished with 10 points including the match-clinching wing attack for the Lady Spikers, who will face the No. 1 seed from Pool A and second ranked teams from Pool B and D in another round-robin play for one of the two twice-to-beat quarterfinals advantages at stake.
La Salle struggled to close out the second set after erecting a commanding 20-9 advantage. JRU pulled off a scary 10-3 rally behind Shanine Pretta and Nicole Deala to cut its deficit to 23-19 before the Lady Spikers stopped the bleeding for a 2-0 match lead.
It was all La Salle in the third set with Guinto and Del Castillo taking over with a combined 11 points.
The also-ran Lady Bombers dropped to 0-2. Deala and Cherry Dayame had seven and six points, respectively, for JRU.
