DEFENDING girls’ division champion Nazareth School of National University recovered from a sluggish start en route to pulling off a 27-29, 25-22, 25-13, 25-17 come-from-behind win over Adamson, sweeping in the process all of its five matches in the first round of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) high school volleyball tournament at the Paco Arena on Tuesday.

The Bullpups opened the game rather shakily but they recovered in time to complete a rare five-game sweep of the eliminations while dealing the Baby Falcons their first defeat in the tight match that took one hour, and 58 minutes to finish.

Meanwhile, Far Eastern University-Diliman survived a scary first set but went on to finish off La Salle-Zobel, 26-24, 25-14, 25-18, and ended up third in the first round with a 3-2 record.

On the other hand, the Junior Lady Spikers absorbed their fourth debacle in five matches and they slid to the fifth spot.

Early in the day, boys’ division defending champion Nazareth School of National U dealt Far Eastern U-Diliman its first loss via 25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 21-25, 17-15 hard-earned victory, leaving the University of the East as the lone unbeaten team.

The Recto Avenue-based Red Warriors extended their winning run to four with a sweep of Ateneo, 25-4, 25-18, 25-17.

The Bullpups were pushed to the limit by the hard-fighting Baby Tamaraws, needing two hours and six minutes to force a three-way tie in second place.

With a 3-1 record, NSNU moved into a tie with FEU-Diliman and the University of Santo Tomas, a 25-9, 25-4, 25-15 winner over La Salle-Zobel.