La Salle, NU renew burning rivalry

MANILA, Philippines — New era rivals and last season’s finalists National U and La Salle have played as good as advertised in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament by occupying the top two spots with a game to go in the first round of the eliminations.

And after taking care of their initial assignments, it’s time to settle the score once more as reigning champion NU and runner-up La Salle slug it out at the Mall of Asia Arena.

The Lady Spikers sport an immaculate slate of 6-0 with the Lady Bulldogs lurking behind at 5-1. Expect fireworks when they battle at 2 p.m. right after the appetizer between Adamson (4-2) and University of the Philippines (1-5) at 12 noon.

La Salle failed to get a single win against NU last season including a sweep in the best-of-three finale but is banking on a beefed-up line-up with the addition of super rookie and UAAP juniors MVP Angel Canino to finally get the job done this time around.

Blocking, a department which La Salle has dominated so far behind the triple towers of Canino, Thea Gagate and Fifi Sharma, will be one of Lady Spikers’ biggest weapons against the dreaded NU attacking combo of reigning MVP Mhicaela Belen and Allysa Solomon.

“Kung anong strength namin, ‘yun ang kakapitan namin. No. 1 kami sa blocking so kailangan namin pangatawanan ‘yun. Kailangan namin gawin ‘yung trabaho namin sa taas,” said interim coach Noel Orcullo.

For NU, stopping La Salle’s newest gunner in Canino will be the deciding factor if it wishes to stay right on track after being stunned by Santo Tomas early in the first round.

“Ngayon po, may go-to-player na sila at talagang nag-improve sila as a team. Magiging challenge po ito sa amin,” said Belen as she goes head-to-head with Canino, her long-time rival since high school where NU and La Salle-Zobel also had a heated rivalry.

“Malaking game ito para sa amin at dito namin makikita kung hanggang saan na kami this first round,” added coach Karl Dimaculangan.

Meanwhile, defending titlist NU (6-0) and No. 4 La Salle (4-2) also clash in a pivotal men’s division battle at 4 p.m. while Adamson (0-6) and UP (0-6) shoot for first win at 10 a.m.