Quality Volleyball Matchup: Adamson Lady Baby Falcons vs NUNS Lady Bullpups

Done with quality matchups in women’s volleyball of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines: between and among the DLSU Lady Spikers, NU Lady Bulldogs, Adamson Lady Falcons, and UST Tigresses. The second half of Season 86 features another quality matchup, this time between the Lady Baby Falcons and NUNS Bullpups in the UAAP high school girls’ volleyball tournament.
Games were decided in five exhausting sets both in the first and second rounds. How is that?
In Season 85, the Nazareth School volleybelles found themselves in a tight corner with a 1-1 record in the best-of-three finals against Adamson. NU won in Game 1, but lost in Game 2 when its 23-match winning streak ended, forcing a winner-take-all. The score was 21-25, 25-20, 20-25, 25-21, 15-13 in favor of the San Marcelino-based teenagers, who were merely five minutes away from the venue, the Paco Arena in Manila.
Ultimately, the Bullpups bagged the crown in Game 3 on March 18, 2023, with the help of season MVP Kianne Olango and setter Abegail Pono, who was named Finals MVP.
Only Olango remains with the defending champs as Pono already graduated from senior high school at NU-Nazareth.
2024 saw Adamson win all their games with an immaculate 11-0 record, but not without quality fightbacks from last year’s finals tormentor NU.
The Bullpups were ahead 2-1 in both Rounds 1 and 2 but succumbed to the tenacity and end-game poise of the Lady Baby Falcons.
Adamson head coach JP Yude and assistant coach Leo Miranda pointed out that their young squad has yet to jell as seen in practices and even in marginal individual errors in actual games. But they are getting stronger and more confident as they are on the brink of a perfect 12-0 slate at the end of the elims.
It is safe to say that emotions did not get the better of the Lady Baby Falcons as compared to the defending champion NU.
Adamson knows NU is tough to beat. They also fought two five-setters last year.
The Bullpups hope to win their remaining games in the elims and semis, which can be in a step-ladder format. They should play their A-game in those crucial games to earn their right to meet the Lady Baby Falcons anew for a possible rematch of last season’s finals.
High school star Shaina Nitura and her inexperienced but well-adjusted Adamson teammates are more focused on the game plans of their coaches and on disciplining themselves to give proper and full respect to all opposing sides, not just NU. Mishka Estrada, Felicity Sagaysay, Sam Cantada, and middle blocker Mary Grade Del Moral ably support the team captain Nitura, last season’s 1st Best Outside Spiker.
If things turn out well for Adamson and NU, the upcoming titular series, with all the spikes, kills, sets, dives, and jump serves from high schoolers, will be one for the books yet again and will surely ignite college recruitment wars.