Lady Bulldogs go for win no.2

By Anthony Divinagracia Posted Dec 6th 2013

National University (NU) goes for its second straight win today as the Lady Bulldogs take on University of the East (UE) in the 76^th UAAP women’s volleyball tournament at the San Juan Arena.

The Lady Bulldogs, featuring the twin-tower combination of siblings Dindin and Jaja Santiago, battle the relatively smaller UE frontline in the 2 p.m. curtain-raiser.

With the Santiago sisters imposing their might upfront, the Lady Bulldogs demolished last year’s runner-up Ateneo de Manila University, 25-17, 25-22, 25-17, on Sunday.

Dindin, who is playing in her final year, led NU with 18 points anchored on 14 hits, three aces, and a block.

Jaja and Myla Pablo added eight markers each, but the younger Santiago scored all her points on kills. Carmina Aganon had six points for the Lady Bulldogs, who are currently tied with defending champion De La Salle University, University of Santo Tomas, and Far Eastern University (FEU) at 1-0.

Against the rookie-laden Lady Eagles, the Lady Bulldogs played a more balanced offense while capitalizing on Ateneo’s error-riddled game.

"This is just the start of our journey. Marami pa kaming kailangan ayusin, lalo na sa service receive naming,” said new coach Edjet Mabbayad, whose wards made just 15 excellent receptions out of 50 tries.

UE for its part absorbed its first defeat at the hands of a revamped FEU squad, 14-25, 15-25, 11-25, last Wednesday.

So lackadaisical was the Lady Warriors’ defense that it yielded 32 opponent errors to the Lady Tamaraws, who virtually scored uncontested in their one-hour encounter.

Offensively, the Lady Warriors were also lost as none of them managed to break into double figures. Veteran Sarina Bulan led UE with just six points. Add to that UE’s playmaking woes with Abegail Pons dishing only 11 good sets out of 83 feeds.

The game will air live over Studio 23, BALLS SkyCable HD 167 and uaapsports.tv with a same day replay tonight at 9 p.m. on BALLS SkyCable channel 34/ Destiny Cable channel 36.