UST sweeps elims, bags top semis spot
ANDREA Tan Chun Bing keeps the ball alive over a fallen teammate during UST’s 25-17, 25-23 win over St. John’s Institute-Bacolod in the 2026 Shakey’s Juniors National Invitationals on Thursday at the Filoil EcoOil Arena.
PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF SSL
University of Santo Tomas (UST) completed an elimination round sweep and locked the No. 1 seed in the semifinals after defeating erstwhile unbeaten St. John’s Institute-Bacolod, 25-17, 25-23, in the 2026 Shakey’s Juniors National Invitationals on Thursday at the Filoil EcoOil Arena in San Juan.
Anelli Manzanillo played clutch in the closing stretch of the second set, scoring four of her team’s 5-2 finishing blow as the Junior Tigresses emerged unscathed after six starts in the elims of the tournament backed by Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Potato Corner and R and B Milk Tea.
UST, which ruled the Shakey’s Girls Volleyball Invitational League Rising Stars Cup Division 1 a couple of months ago, will take on the fourth-seeded squad in the knockout Final Four on Friday at the same venue starting at 4 p.m.
Nicole Pelaez scored all her 10 points on attacks while Manzanillo finished with eight markers on four kills and four kill blocks to lead the Junior Tigresses, who have yet to drop a set in the weeklong competition.
“We learned from the preliminaries how to truly give our best effort just to win a single point,” Manzanillo said.
“We know that the other teams also trained hard, so we really have to execute our plays correctly and deliver the absolute best game we can offer.”
UST encountered tough opposition from the Falcons in the second set and trailed SJI-Bacolod, 20-21, after a Kristel Mirasol hit.
Manzanillo took matters into her own hands and scored back-to-back kills before Pelaez smashed an attack for a 23-21 UST advantage.
Eliz Menchavez committed an attack error that gave the Falcons a breather but Manzanillo answered with a kill block to put UST at match point, 24-22.
SJI-Bacolod saved a match point on an error by the Junior Tigresses before Manzanillo capped the one-hour, five-minute victory with a kill block against Caera Celis.
The semis-bound Falcons saw their four-game winning streak snapped heading into their final elims match against Guam-based guest team Pacific Volleyball Academy, Inc. later in the day.
Celis was limited to just seven points while Edz Escultura and Eileen Yanson logged in five markers each for SJI-Bacolod, which shot itself in the foot with 18 errors.