Banking on some crucial defensive plays, MITs Albert Alano and Eliezer Collado stunned the fancied pair of Jamel Macasamat, half of the team which placed third in last years staging, and Jerome Capada of University of San Juan de Recoletos-Cebu, 12-9, to gain a berth in the next round of the mens division.
Alano and Collado made key adjustments after trailing 8-9 that saw them block Macasamats powerful spikes to win the last four points and the game as Mapua topped Group 3.
USLS-Bacolod Is Cecille Tabuena and Glenda Pintolo, who made it to Boracay last year but now playing with different partners, outclassed the Letran I tandem of Sherylyn Carillo and Abigail Latigay, 12-4, in the womens side.
"Nung lumamang sila, nag-time out agad kami at nag-adjust lang kami ng konti sa depensa. Buti na lang napigil naming yung momentum, nila," said Alano, a fourth year mechanical engineering student.
De La Salle University I bounced back from a second round setback to early qualifier USLS-Bacolod I by sweeping their last four games, the last a 12-4 win over Letran I, which blew two chances of barging into the next phase.
La Salles beauteous tandem of Demeilee Chua and Sheryl Magallanes scuttled the listless pair of Carillo and Latigay, 12-4, half an hour after downing Philippine Christian University-Tafts Cherrylyn Reyes and Romalyn Mangaliman, 12-5.
The other quarterfinal slot in the mens group was still being disputed by USJR-Cebu I and University of San Carlos-Cebu, which kept its quarterfinals bid with a 12-11 squeaker over Adamson University.