The NU Lady Bulldogs begin their title defense in UAAP Season 87 with a lopsided win over new-age rivals La Salle.
The NU Lady Bulldogs ushered in a new era under PVL Grand Slam champion coach Sherwin Meneses as they handily beat the DLSU Lady Spikers, 25-23, 25-21, 25-18, in their opening game of UAAP Season 87 at the Mall of Asia Arena on Sunday.
Buoyed by big games from Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon, the defending champion Lady Bulldogs reasserted their league status with a big win over La Salle, whom they faced in the Finals for two years in a row in UAAP Season 84 and 85.
La Salle only ever threatened NU late in set 1 when the Lady Spikers fought back from a 18-23 deficit and fired off a 5-0 run to tie the match at 23-all.
But Sheena Toring responded with a quick attack before Shevana Laput committed an attack error that gifted NU the set and the momentum back.
It was all NU from then on as the Lady Bulldogs surged in set 2 and set 3 to take convincing victories and achieve the season’s first sweep for women’s volleyball.
In the third set, it was clearly NU’s game to lose when the champs seized the commanding lead, 16-9, in the second technical timeout.
Setter Lams Lamina earned Player of the Game honors for distributing the offense well with 20 excellent sets in the sweeping victory.
NU hopes to ride the momentum with the big win as the Lady Bulldogs face a short turnaround, playing again on Wednesday, February 19, against the Ateneo Blue Eagles.
Before that though, the Lady Bulldogs will finish the weekend at the no. 1 spot in the standings with their 1-0 slate owing to superior set ratio.