NATIONAL University (NU) and University of Santo Tomas (UST) racked up two victories in straight-set fashions, while Adamson University pulled off a shock 16-25, 25-19, 25-21 victory over former champion Hope Christian High School in the Shakey’s Girls’ Volleyball League Season 13 National Capital Region leg at the Ynares Sports Arena in Pasig City over the weekend.
The Lady Bullpups thumped Kings’ Montessori School, 25-11, 25-18, in the opener then ripped MGC New Life Christian Academy, 25-14, 25-14, to set the early pace in Pool A of the event backed by Mikasa, MyPhone and Asics.
The Junior Tigresses matched NU’s 2-0 start, nipping Escuela De Sophia of Caloocan, 25-23, 25-23, and routing Academy of God’s Children, 25-14, 25-9, to lead Pool B of the two-division, 10-team event sponsored by Shakey’s for the 13th year and organized by Metro Sports headed by Freddie Infante.
The Lady Baby Falcons, meanwhile, came back strong from an opening set setback then held off the HCS spikers’ fight back in the decider to post the reversal that marred the opener of the weeklong qualifier among the top high school girls’ volley squads in the Big City.
Meanwhile, Koi Castillo, marketing manager of Shakey’s, De La Salle’s Ara Galang and MyPhone Vice President Richie de Quina made the ceremonial serves kicking off the third of eight regional eliminations culminating in the national finals.
Escuela De Sophia earlier repulsed AGC, 25-17, 20-25, 25-21; La Salle-Zobel held off MGC, 25-20, 25-17; and KMS bounced back with a 25-22, 25-18 win over University of the East.
The winner will banner the country’s bid in the first-ever Shakey’s GVL International Championship, which will feature five foreign teams, according to Metro Sports Tournament Director Johanz Buenvenida.
Other teams seeing action in the NCR elims are De La Salle-Zobel, University of the East and MGC New Life Christian Academy in Pool and University of Santo Tomas in Pool B.
Central Philippine University, and University of San Jose-Recoletos clinched the first two berths in the grand finals after topping the Western Visayas and Central Visayas legs, respectively.
Meanwhile, Northern Mindanao will host the next stop from August 28 to 31 in Cagayan de Oro City, followed by Eastern Visayas from September 3 to 6 in Tacloban City, Northern Luzon from September 8 to 11 in Angeles City, Southern Mindanao from September 14 to 18 in Tagum City and Southern Luzon from September 23 to 26 in Biñan City.