Alyssa Solomon tallies career-high 28 as NU slips past Adamson for second win

By NIKOLE JAVIER
Alyssa Solomon exploded for a career-high 28 points as National University escaped Adamson's gutsy comeback to come away with a hard-earned 25-22, 25-19, 25-27, 22-25, 15-10 victory in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament on Wednesday, March 1, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The Lady Bulldogs, who haven't played a fifth-setter match in nearly three years since March 4, 2020, extended their winning run to 20 games and improved 2-0 in the standings for the early lead.
Solomon took care of business for NU with a 28-point performance built on 27 attacks and an ace, 11 of which she poured in the third set alone.
Bella Belen, for her part, added a huge 23-point outing while Cess Robles and Erin Pangilinan had 13 and 12, respectively.
What was once a deadlock of 7-all in the third set would go on to be a 16-10 deficit for NU, and just as the reigning champion was about to come to its senses, Adamson would held on for the 27-25 set win.
The fourth set was no different which saw the Lady Falcons also pull away midway through the set before the Lady Bulldogs caught up at 20-all.
But Adamson would find itself on top of NU courtesy of back-to-back block points on Belen and Solomon to drag the match into a decider.
The Lady Bulldogs raced to an early 4-0 lead at the fifth set before ultimately finding themselves in another deadlock with the Lady Falcons at 5-all.
Now up by only one at 10-9, Belen would come through with back-to-back crosscourt kills to extend the lead by three.
In the end, it was the 5-1 run of NU capped by Camille Lamina's ace that would end Adamson's fiery run.
Kate Santiago paced the Lady Falcons with 20 points, while Trisha Tubu and Loren Toring contributed 16 and 12 markers, respectively, in the losing effort as they absorbed an even record of 1-1 in the standings.