Lady Tams strike back, force sudden death vs Tigresses

MANILA, Philippines — Far Eastern U rose from the brink and clobbered University of Santo Tomas, 22-25, 25-13, 25-14, 25-20 to force a sudden death for one of the final berths in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference Season 2 at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.

Top-seeded Adamson also got back at No. 4 University of the Philippines, 25-23, 25-19, 25-21, later in the day to likewise send their side of the semis series into a rubber match.

The four teams will have hardly a rest as they slug it out again today with the Lady Falcons and the Lady Maroons facing off at 2 p.m. and the Lady Tams and the Tigresses disputing the other final seat at 4 p.m.

Ranged against a team they haven’t beaten in the conference, the No. 3 Lady Tamaraws worked on their service reception to finally put one over the second-seeded Tigresses, who won in five in the elims last Aug. 25 and prevailed, 16-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-23, in the series’ opener last Wednesday.

“We executed our game plan well. We have a high percentage in our service reception in (yesterday’s) game that’s why we were able to penetrate,” said FEU coach George Pascua.

The Lady Tamaraws produced 23 excellent receptions from their 66 attempts after a 20-for-82 output Game One.

Celine Domingo controlled the net with six kill blocks while blasting in four aces in her game-high 19-point effort, Jerilli Malabanan scored 17 all on attacks, Kyle Negrito delivered eight aces and wound up with 12 points while tossing 26 excellent sets and Lycha Ebon chipped in 10 points for FEU.

Meanwhile, the Lady Falcons saw their perfect 7-0 win streak in the elims snap in the semis after yielding Game One, 26-24, 19-25, 22-25, 20-25. But they came back strong to fashion out the emphatic straight-set victory though they had to avert a huge meltdown in the third.