MANILA, Philippines - National U battled back from an opening set setback then wore down University of Santo Tomas in a back-and-forth fourth-set thriller to hack out a 21-25, 25-22, 25-21, 28-26 victory and rule the Shakey’s Girls’ Volleyball League Season 13 NCR leg at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig last Thursday.
Faith Nisperos provided the firepower, Nicole Magsarile supplied the defensive spunk upfront and ace setter Joyme Cagande kept the ball in play all throughout as the Lady Bullpups bucked a shaky start and the UST spikers’ gutsy stand in the last three sets to pound out the victory.
NU thus advanced to the national finals along with the other winners in the various regional eliminations of the annual event sponsored by Shakey’s and organized by Metro Sports headed by Freddie Infante.
NU and UST swept their respective divisions in the elims to roll into the Final Four along with Kings’ Montessori School and Adamson U with the Lady Bullpups beating the Baby Falcons and the España-based school trouncing the KMS side in the crossover semis of the tournament backed by Asics, Mikasa, Iloilo Doctors’ College and My Phone.
KMS bested Adamson to snare third place.
The power-hitting Nisperos was later named the first best outside attacker and went on to cop the MVP honors while Magsarile took the first best middle blocker award and Cagande clinched the best setter plum.
Other awardees were KMS’ Lorienlyn Bernardo (second best middle blocker), Carla Sandoval, also of KMS, (second best outside attacker), UST’s Ejiya Laure (best opposite attacker) and Bernadette Pepito, also of UST (best libero).
Meanwhile, the Northern Mindanao leg got under way yesterday in Cagayan de Oro City with the Eastern Visayas elims set next Sept. 3-6 in Tacloban City. Angeles City, Pampanga will host the next stop, the Northern Luzon leg, Sept. 8-11 before action shifts back to Tagum City for the Southern Mindanao leg Sept. 14-18. Southern Luzon will stage the final stop Sept. 23-26 in Biñan.
The winner in the national finals will also represent the country in the first-ever Shakey’s GVL International Championship which will feature five foreign teams, according to Metro Sports’ and tournament director Johanz Buenvenida.
For details, visit www.facebook.com/shakeysgirlsvleague.