Lady Bulldogs oust Lady Tamaraws to book UAAP finals return

MANILA, Philippines -- The National University Lady Bulldogs booked their third straight trip to the UAAP women’s volleyball finals after dominating the Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws in straight sets, 25-13, 27-25, 25-15, Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

NU will be facing the UST Golden Tigresses in the Season 86 finals. The two teams split their elimination round series.

Former Most Valuable Player Bella Belen showed her stuff, finishing with 21 points off of 16 attacks and five service aces. She also had 14 excellent digs.

After a hard-fought second set that saw the Lady Bulldogs come back from seven points down, they regained their form in the third set, going up 9-3 early on.

While FEU was able to cut the deficit to just three, 7-10, Sheena Toring punched one in to go up by four, 11-7.

This lit a fire under last season’s runners-up, as the Lady Bulldogs went up by eight, 20-12, after a block on Jean Asis.

A kill by Asis kept the Morayta-based squad in the game, 20-13, but the Sampaloc-based team just out hustled and outmuscled their opponents.

An attack error by Chai Papa put NU at match point, 24-14, and an off-the-block attack by Chen Tagaod saved the winning mark.

Alinsug would end the match, setting the date with the Tigresses.

Toring backstopped Belen with 13 points off of a game-high six blocks, five attacks and two service aces. Alyssa Solomon added nine.

No FEU player finished in double figures. Tagaod led the team with nine markers, while Gerzel Petallo chipped in eight, all attacks.

NU recorded 41 attack points, 10 service aces and nine blocks.

The Lady Tamaraws also committed 17 errors compared to the Lady Bulldogs’ 13.

Game 1 of the finals will be held this weekend also at the Big Dome.