Fresh off Palaro title, NUNS Lady Bullpups continue winning ways
NU Lady Bullpups celebrate after winning their first Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Invitational League.–SSL PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — A week after ruling the 2025 Palarong Pambansa secondary volleyball, National University-Nazareth School reasserted its mastery of Bacolod Tay Tung High School to complete a perfect campaign in the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Invitational League (GVIL) Rising Stars Cup on Saturday at La Salle Greenhills.
NUNS, which won the Palarong Pambansa representing NCR by sweeping the Bacolod Tay Tung-represented Western Visayas, faced a different Thunderbolts, this time, with Rhose Almendralejo setting a scoring record of 35 points.
READ: NUNS Lady Bullpups off to rousing Rising Stars start
National University-Nazareth School asserts its mastery of Bacolod Tay Tung High School, pulling off a come-from-behind 27-25, 16-25, 21-25, 30-28, 15-13 win to rule the #ShakeysGVIL2025 @INQUIRERSports pic.twitter.com/2kS5yhDd3l
— Lance Agcaoili (@LanceAgcaoilINQ) June 7, 2025
But the Lady Bullpups’ championship tradition still prevailed as they pulled off a come-from-behind 27-25, 16-25, 21-25, 30-28, 15-13 win for their first-ever GVIL crown after settling for silver last year and bronze in 2023.
Sam Cantada and Denesse Daylisan willed NU back, scoring the clutch kills in the fourth set to force a decider.
The fifth set remained toe-to-toe as Almendralejo tied the frame at 13 but she committed a service error, followed by a costly attack fault by Ana Hermosura that made NUNS the third GVIL champion, joining California Academy (2023) and Adamson last year.
Cantada and Daylisan led the Lady Bullpups with 21 points each. Jenelyn Jacob chipped in 14 points, while Harlyn Serneche added 12 points to complete a seven-game sweep.
“The players refused to give up. They displayed their eagerness and heart to get this win despite being down. Their character showed,” said NUNS coach Karl Dimaculangan in Filipino.
READ: NUNS sweeps Adamson to regain UAAP girls’ volleyball crown
Almendralejo played her heart out for Bacolod with 31 kills, two blocks, and two aces. Hermosura delivered 20 points. Camila Bartolome and Alexa Bertolano had 12 and 11 points, respectively, as Dona De Leon added 10.
Meanwhile, Domuschola International School overpowered Everest International Academy, 25-11, 26-24, 25-17, to become the first-ever Division 2 champion, with Naihma Banal unleashing 19 points.
Isabella Asistio had nine for the Badgers, while Micaela Pingris, daughter of former PBA player and Gilas Pilipinas star Marc Pingris, chipped in seven.
Huskies ace Julia Rodriguez was silenced to just five points as the Taguig-based squad threw away 29 points from errors to settle for silver.
Both teams have been promoted to the Division 1 contest next year.
READ: Kings’ Montessori beats NU for bronze in Shakey’s Girls Volleyball
De La Salle-Lipa salvaged a podium finish after copping the Division 1 bronze medal at the expense of Emilio Aguinaldo College, 25-22, 25-12, 25-20.
The troika of Althea Sumague, Maxene Sumagaysay and Kyle Aldovino did most of the damage for the Green Stallion’s quick work on the Lady Brigadiers.
Sumague scored all of her 12 points off kills, Sumagaysay had 11 markers, while Aldovino added 10 points.
In the Division 2 battle for third, Immaculate Conception Academy outclassed St. Paul College-Pasig, 25-12, 25-14, 25-16, behind the 13-point explosion of Sophia Tan.
Dethroned Adamson University saved some semblance of pride with a five-set escape over Far Eastern University-Diliman, 24-26, 21-25, 25-18, 35-33, 17-15, in the Division 1 classification match for fifth place.
Ellaine Gonzalvo fired 25 points to lead two other Lady Baby Falcons in double figures. Francheska Adem added 19 markers while Kristal Martin submitted 14 points for Adamson, which survived the 27-point outing of Lady Baby Tamaraw’s Nigerian gunner Ifunanya Udeagbala in the match that lasted two hours and seven minutes.
Arellano University took seventh place via default with opponent King’s Montessori School late for their scheduled Division 1 classification match.
De La Salle-Zobel B rallied from a set down to beat Assumption Antipolo 13-25, 25-16, 25-17, 25-22, for fifth place while La Salle Green Hills dumped Miriam College, 25-23, 15-25, 25-20, 25-19, for a seventh place finish in Division 2.
