MANILA, Philippines — The National U spikers romped their way to the playoffs in style.

The Lady Bulldogs clinched a twice-to-beat advantage while the Bulldogs secured an outright finals berth to end their elimination-round campaign with flying colors in the UAAP Season 85 volleyball tournament yesterday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

Albeit in separate paths, the reigning champions took care of business with the NU women’s volleyball team pulling off a reverse sweep against Ateneo, 21-25, 28-30, 25-14, 25-13, 15-13, and its men’s counterparts clipping the Blue Eagles, 25-11, 28-26, 16-25, 25-23.

The Lady Bulldogs thus finished their campaign at 11-3 to secure the No. 2 seed and the last win-once bonus after leader La Salle while the Bulldogs wiped out the floor at 14-0 to go straight to the best-of-three finals.

Reigning MVP Mhicaela Belen flashed an all-around brilliance of 26 points, 15 digs and 19 receptions highlighted by a thunderous kill to cap NU’s come-from-behind win.

“We still have a lot of things to improve on moving forward to the Final Four,” said Belen.