University of Santo Tomas (UST) walloped Maryhill College Lucena, 25-10, 25-15, and completed a group sweep in the 2024 Philippine National Volleyball Federation (PNVF) Under-18 Championship on Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Junior Golden Tigresses met little to no resistance from the Quezon Province spikers, needing only 45 minutes to score yet another easy win in the girls’ division.
UST thus topped Pool A with a clean 5-0 slate and will face the still-to-be-determined fourth-ranked squad from Pool B, currently led by fellow UAAP powerhouse National University (4-0), in the knockout quarterfinals.
Also in Pool A, Kings’ Montessori School (3-1) clinched the No. 2 seed after making short work of La Salle-Zobel, 25-12, 25-16.
In Pool B, San Juan Institute of Technology-Batangas fended off winless Parañaque City (0-4) with a gritty 25-21, 25-22 win to bolster its quarterfinal hopes at 3-2, good for third place at the moment.
Only the Top 4 teams from each pool will advance to the knockout playoffs to be played under a regular best-of-five format from a shortened three-setter play in the ongoing prelims.
Meanwhile, in the boys’ division, Angatleta Sports-Orion, Bataan (4-0) zeroed in on a Pool A sweep with a 25-19, 25-21 win over the Philippine Christian University, which fell to 2-2.
Colegio de los Baños (1-3), for its part, stayed in contention in Pool B by eking out a 22-25, 25-21, 25-15 comeback win over the listless Aguevea Volleyball Club (0-3).
Action heats up today in the homestretch of the single-round eliminations with NU (4-0) also looking to complete a sweep of Pool B of the girls’ play against Canossa Academy-Lipa (1-2) at 11:30 a.m.
In other games, Gracel Christian College (2-2) tries to seal its playoff ticket in Pool A against the also-ran Limitless Sports Center (0-4) at 10 a.m. while Maryhill College Lucena (1-1) shoot for a crucial win against Kings’ Montessori School (3-1) at 1 p.m.
Over at the boys’ division, PCU (2-2) wants to stay on playoff track against the Golden Whiskers Club (0-3) at 2:30 p.m. in Pool A while VNS (1-2) fights for dear life against Aguavea Volleyball Club (0-3) at 4 p.m. and Taytay, Rizal (2-1) tangles with Hermosa, Bataan (2-1) for second place in Pool B.
