UNBEATEN University of Santo Tomas and Adamson U rolled their way into the next round after humbling their opponents yesterday in the 2023 Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-Season Championship Season 2 at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in San Juan.
The Golden Tigresses (3-0) beat reigning NCAA champion College of St. Benilde Blazers, 25-13, 22-25, 25-12, 25-22 to complete a Pool C sweep while the Lady Falcons (2-0) clobbered NCAA runner-up Lyceum Lady Pirates, 25-16, 25-16, 25-13, to secure the top spot in Pool B.
Adamson’s win also paved the way for the qualification of Arellano (2-1) in Pool B as Lyceum (1-2) crashed out of contention.
Defending champion National U (2-0) from Pool A is the other team that has booked its seat in the playoffs, leaving only four spots up for grabs in the final week of the elimination round.
UST, which previously trounced Letran and the University of Perpetual Help System Dalta, once again relied on a scattered attack with three players barging into double digits led by Jonna Perdido, who hammered 20 points on 20 attacks.
Regina Jurado and Angeline Poyos produced 19 and 17 points, respectively, as UST carries over a perfect record to the playoffs of the SSL Season 2 backed by Mikasa, Eurotel, Victory Liner, Summit Bottle Water, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, R and B Milk Tea, Potato Corner, Rebel Sports, Converge ICT Solutions and Genius Sports.
“Marami pa kaming rooms for improvement. ‘Yun ang pinakamanda. Kailangan namin ng consistency na siya namang pinaka-importante (entering the next round),” said coach Kungfu Reyes as UST dominated CSB, except for a second-set defeat, with double-digit wins in the first and third frames.
The Lady Falcons needed only 68 minutes to claw the Lady Pirates behind the troika of Lucille Almonte, Jimy Jean Jamili and Red Bascon with seven points each.
