In chess, the University of the East’s men’s team retained the lead after three rounds with 9.0 points and Santo Tomas U is ahead in the women’s with 8.5. The UE junior squad, on the other hand, held a precarious 1.0-point lead over UST after two rounds.
De La Salle, the reigning women’s titlist, found UST easy to crack and with a superior quotient, was No. 2 in women’s volleyball first round over Adamson U, which also sported a 6-1 record.
The Lady Falcons recovered from a cold first half in outsoaring the Lady Eagles, the team they beat for the Season 67 title, 59-52, at the Adamson gym.
Concepcion Rieta stepped up for a cold Merenciana Arayi with a team-high 13 points and Dulce Bombeo contributed 10 rebounds to offset an anemic seven markers for the Lady Falcons, who trailed 14-6 after the first quarter and 32-25 at the half. Arayi, the Season 67 MVP, was clipped to just nine points.
UP did not get that sweep in men’s volleyball first-round, bowing to its finals tormentor last season, Far Eastern U, 27-25, 26-28, 18-25, 25-16, 16-14. Worse, the Maroons were relegated to third place because of a worst quotient.
UST, which ripped De La Salle, 25-17, 25-13, 25-18, tied FEU and UP with a 6-1 card but emerged No. 1 with a 4.75 quotient as against FEU’s 1.190 and 1.126. To break ties, the quotient is determined by the sets won, sets lost quotient. FEU and UP tied anew and the points won and points lost rule was applied.
Adamson was fourth with 4-3 after beating UE, 25-17, 22-25, 25-22, 25-10, while NU won its first at Ateneo’s expense, 2-26, 25-20, 25-22.
The Lady Archers met a weaker Tigresses team this time around and made mincemeat of their championship victims last season in just 54 minutes, 25-10, 25-20, 25-11.
The vastly-improved Lady Falcons also soared high in women’s volleyball at the UP gym, snatching their sixth win at the Lady Maroons’ expense, 26-24, 25-19, 28-30, 25-11.
UE’s men nipped UST, 2.5-1.5 in the second round Saturday when UP went 4.0-0 over National U and momentarily grabbed a .5 lead. But on Sunday, the Red chessers managed another 2.5-1.5 win over Adamson while UP lost by the same score to reigning titlist to relinquish the lead to the Recto-based team.
In women’s chess, UST was a 1.5-2.5 loser to UE Saturday but got back Sunday with a 2.5-1.5 victory over De La Salle to stay 1.0-point clear of closest pursuer De La Salle.