Championship experience and composure forged from many battles won and lost kicked in when National University pulled off an epic comeback to draw closer to extending its reign to a fourth straight year.

Staring at a two-point deficit in the endgame of a gripping five-setter, the Lady Bulldogs unleashed a blinding closing salvo to stun University of Santo Tomas, 15-25, 25-23, 25-17, 13-25, 15-12, in Game 1 of the 2025 Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Preseason Unity Cup best-of-three Finals series Saturday night at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum. 

NU got beaten up in the fourth set as the Tigresses, determined to avenge their runners-up finish in their last championship meeting two years ago, built momentum heading into the deciding frame.

UST looked in control in the back-and-forth race to the finish, with the Lady Bulldogs playing catch-up. The Tigresses seemed to have NU cornered with a 12-10 lead.

The Lady Bulldogs, however, have a different plan in mind as they countered with a closing 5-0 run to shock UST and move within a win to complete a sweep of the league’s centerpiece tournament they have dominated since its inaugural season in 2022.  

“What’s running through my mind is the goal we have set. We all know that we really want to get this game,” said NU prized rookie Sam Cantada, who returned with a bang after her tour of duty with the Alas Pilipinas Under-18 team.

Cantada scored 18 points to lead NU to its ninth straight victory in as many starts in the competition. The power-hitting and strong-serving winger, who was named Best Player during the Lady Bulldogs’ conquest of the National Invitationals Davao Leg, hammered 16 kills and landed two aces.

NU now has a full week to prepare for the finisher in Game 2 on Saturday at the same venue for a second straight season sweep. A deciding Game 3, if necessary, is set on 19 November.

Chams Maaya was a dominant force at the net, accounting for eight of the Lady Bulldogs’ 13 kill blocks. Her last denial against Angge Poyos sealed the win in the grueling two-hour, 39-minute encounter.

Maaya finished with 14 points while Kaye Bombita and Vange Alinsug had 11 and nine markers, respectively, for NU.

The Lady Bulldogs barked back in the second and third sets after surrendering the opening frame. The Tigresses roared back in the fourth in dominating fashion to force the decider.

UST created some breathing room in the nip-and-tuck fifth set, 12-10, off a Regina Jurado kill.

Bombita answered with an off the block kill that triggered the finishing run.

The Tigresses were called for a rotational fault in the next play. Abegail Pono scored a kill, Poyos committed an overreaching infraction that sent NU to match point before Maaya’s defensive gem.   

“I just told them we have to focus on the process and not the result. Because every time we do that, we tend to forget a lot of steps and we’re always in a hurry, causing us problems,” Lady Bulldogs head coach Regine Diego said. 

“Once we tried to focus everything by steps, starting from our passes, then it got better in the end.”

The Tigresses saw their seven-game winning streak snapped. 

Poyos scored 20 of her 21 points off kills, Jurado had 12 markers while Marga Altea and Xyza Gula chipped in 11 and 10 points, respectively, for UST. 

Meanwhile, the winner-take-all battle between Far Eastern University and Adamson University is also on Saturday before Game 2 of the finals.