ADAMSON University (AdU) Lady Falcons bucked a shaky start to fend off Lyceum of the Philippines Lady Pirates, 29-27, 25-21, 25-18, in the 2026 Shakey’s Super League (SSL) Unity Cup on Friday at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Lady Falcons displayed maturity and resolve after the Lady Pirates put up a tough challenge in the first two frames before Adamson cruised in the third set to begin their Pool D campaign on a winning note.
Joy Aseo finished with eight points on six kills, one kill block and an ace while Red Bascon, Abegail Segui and Third Tuddao added seven markers each for the Lady Falcons.
Frances Mordi posted six points, Janna Dizon got five while Kamille Dionisio scored four of her five markers on kill blocks for the Lady Falcons, who gave ace spiker Shaina Nitura more time to rest after a grueling tour of duty for Alas Pilipinas in the Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.
Fully adjusted after a scary extended first set and surviving a tight closing stretch of the second, Adamson raced to a 5-0 lead in the third and widened the gap to 19-9 on its way to victory in the one-hour, 40-minute match.
“Bad start talaga sa aming lahat and alam namin sa sarili namin yun. Habang nasa labas (ng court) nag-reflect kaming lahat. Isang adjustment rin namin ay maging alive and mag-smile sa game,” Tuddao said.
Adamson was sluggish in the opening frame and played catch-up. The Lady Falcons saved three set points before Mordi landed an ace to put Adamson on top, 25-24.
Back-to-back errors by Aseo surrendered the set point advantage to Lyceum, 27-26. Adamson exploited Ashley Muchillas’ costly service error, putting the set away with a Mordi off-speed hit followed by an Aseo kill.
Adamson shattered a 20-20 second set deadlock with a closing 5-l run to take a 2-0 match lead.
Muchillas paced the Lady Pirates with 13 points on 12 kills and a kill block while Roxie Dela Cruz and Sarah Lumbang added six and five points, respectively. (Adrian Co)
