National University punched the first semifinal ticket with a sweep of Far Eastern University, 25-10, 25-17, 25-15, in the knockout quarterfinal of the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum on Sunday.
The unbeaten Lady Bulldogs pounced on the Lady Tamaraws early to build momentum and dictate the pace of the match that lasted for only 79 minutes to advance into the Final Four.
“We prepared really well coming into this game. I think that helped us a lot in this game,” said NU coach Karl Dimaculangan, whose wards won their sixth straight in as many starts in the tournament organized by Athletic Events and Sports Management, Inc. (ACES).
NU will face in the knockout semifinal the survivor between University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines in the other quarterfinal pairing being played as of press time.
The Final Four is slated on Friday, November 11, while the winner-take-all championship match is set on November 19.
Erin Pangilinan and veteran Alyssa Solomon did most of the damage for NU, which rained down 53 attack points and exploited the problematic reception game of FEU to land 22 aces.
Pangilinan accounted for eight of the total service winners scored by the Lady Bulldogs as she finished with 13 points. Solomon had 10 attacks, an ace and a kill block for 12 markers.
The Lady Tamaraws showed little resistance throughout the match and were tentative on their attacks with only 16 hits penetrating the defensive wall of NU.
Bella Belen got nine points while Ces Robles and Alinsug added eight markers each for the Lady Bulldogs.
FEU, which dropped its fourth straight game, is relegated to the classification round.
