Lady Falcons foil Knights, gain quarters

MANILA, Philippines - Adamson held off Letran in four to formalize its stint in the quarterfinals while towing University of St. La Salle-Bacolod into the next round in the ninth Shakey’s V-League Presented by Smart at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Nene Bautista rammed in a power kill over two Letran defenders to cap the Lady Falcons’ 25-18, 25-16, 14-25, 25-22 victory in 1:28.

Adamson, which dropped its first two games, thus closed out with a 2-2 mark to join Group B mates San Sebastian College and University of Santo Tomas in the Last 8 with USLS taking the last berth with a 1-3 slate.

Letran bowed out of the race with a 0-4 mark, the same card posted by Southwestern U in Group A of the two-division tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

Bautista, a former MVP, finished with 22 hits, including 17 kills, while Pau Soriano added 16 points for the Lady Falcons, who slowed down in the third set, enabling the Lady Knights to extend the match.

Thai import Patcharee Sangmuang made 16 kills while Joy Casas made 10 hits for the Lady Knights, who kept the game close in the fourth but just couldn’t sustain their fightback and missed forcing a playoff for the last quarters berth.

Earlier, NCAA champion University of Perpetual Help primed up for the quarters with a straight-set 25-21, 25-17, 25-20 victory over Far Eastern U.

Thai import Kunbang Pornpimol unloaded 13 attacks and finished with 17 hits, while Sandra delos Santos fired 12 points and Honey Royse Tubino chipped in 11 markers for the Lady Altas, who finished second to unbeaten Ateneo (4-0) in Group A with a 3-1 card.

The event is backed by Mikasa and Accel and organized by Sports Vision.