UNDEFEATED University of Santo Tomas (UST) secured the No. 1 seeding in the semifinals after a quick work of Australian guest team Southern Storm Melbourne, 25-20, 25-14, 25-9, in the 2026 Shakey’s Collegiate National Invitationals on Wednesday at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium.
The Golden Tigresses neutralized the Australians’ height advantage by beating them to the draw with fast and angled attacks to break their defensive wall on their way to a 4-0 win-loss record.
It was the veteran duo of Angge Poyos and Regina Jurado, who did most of the damage as UST inched closer to completing an elimination round sweep of the competition backed by Shakey’s Pizza Parlor, Peri-Peri Charcoal Chicken, Potato Corner and R&B Milk Tea.
Poyos punched in 14 points on 13 kills and an ace while Jurado played her first game in the tournament after sitting out the first two and contributed eight points for the España-based squad.
“I’m grateful because we got this win in straight sets. Our opponents were tall, and in the first set, I felt like I was still trying to find my rhythm,” said Poyos, who was limited to three points in the first set.
“I made sure to apply what we practice in training — which is doing check-ball off their block — especially since their blockers are tall,” Poyos added.
Marga Altea also had eight markers for the Tigresses, who will face Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City Volleyball Club on Thursday to close the elims of the tournament supported by Jetour, Baic, Eurotel, Victory Liner Rent & Go, F2 Logistics, Summit Natural Drinking Water, PusoP.com and Smart Sports.
UST dictated the pace the whole match for an easy 80-minute victory that snapped Southern Storm’s three-game winning streak, pulling the Aussies down to second with a 3-1 win-loss record.
The Tigresses rained down 47 attack points with young setter Arlene Waje dishing out eight excellent sets.
UST blew the third set wide open with a 14-1 blast that turned a four-point lead early in the frame into an insurmountable 24-7 advantage.
Southern Storm saved two match points before Tigresses middle blocker Bianca Plaza called it a day with a quick attack.
No player from the Aussies’ side reached double-digit scoring, with Cleo Anastasias finishing with nine points.
Isabella Smith and Steph Baker had six and five points, respectively, for Southern Storm, which already secured a semis seat on Tuesday night after beating the Vietnamese, 25-15, 26-24, 20-25, 24-26, 15-12.
The Australian squad shoots for the No. 2 seed against College of Saint Benilde on Thursday.
