MANILA (UPDATED) – The National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs were business as usual on Wednesday after a shocking defeat in their previous outing in the UAAP Season 85 women’s volleyball tournament.

The Lady Bulldogs bucked a first-set collapse and ripped the UP Fighting Maroons, 18-25, 25-17, 25-11, 25-11, at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum for their third win of the season.

NU avenged their five-set loss from the UST Golden Tigresses last Saturday for a 3-1 win-loss card – tied with Adamson Lady Falcons in second place.

The Fighting Maroons, on the other hand, slid to a 1-3 card.

Sheena Toring finally had a breakout game with 14 points, highlighted by six aces. She also got solid backing from Vangie Alinsug and Alyssa Solomon, who both tallied 13 points.

NU had 16 service aces in the match, compared to just three of the Fighting Maroons.

“After UST, nanghinayang kaming lahat, but ito, nagawa naman ito, so sana magtuluy-tuloy itong panalo namin na to at madali namin sa mga susunod pang mga laro,” head coach Karl Dimaculangan said.

After dropping the first set, NU went back to their usual onslaught capturing the next two sets convincingly.

In the fourth frame, UP tried to fight back, equalizing the game at 9 but this was where Toring took the matters on her hand as she unleashed a series of serves that resulted in a 10-0 run, 19-9.

The defending champions never looked back with Solomon hammering a solid kill before UP committed an error for a 23-11 separation.

Stephanie Bustrillo was the only bright spot for UP with 13 points.