73rd UAAP Volleyball: De La Salle trumps UST in five-set thriller

With the Final Four cast complete and the pairings decided, the Taft spikers made it clear that they are a team to be reckoned with.

Final Standings
(as of February 13, 2011)
MEN'S	W	L
¹ University of Santo Tomas	13	1
² Far Eastern University	13	1
³ University of the Philippines	8	6
⁴ De La Salle University	8	6
Adamson University	4	8
Ateneo de Manila University	3	9
National University	2	9
University of the East	1	10

WOMEN'S	W	L
¹De La Salle University	13	1
² University of Santo Tomas	10	4
³ Adamson University	9	5
⁴ Ateneo de Manila University	8	6
National University	5	9
Far Eastern University	5	9
University of the Philippines	3	11
University of the East	3	11

De La Salle University (DLSU) made a late-game comeback after dropping two consecutive sets to finish off University of Santo Tomas (UST) in their last regular season match in the 73rd University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) women's volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

In the men's draw, UST spoiled Far Eastern University's (FEU) party, handing the Tamaraws their first taste of defeat this season to close out the eliminations with a 13-1 record and the tiebreaker to capture the #1 spot entering the Final Four.

Lady Archers, Lady Falcons top respective foes

After a painfully excruciating two hours of play, the Lady Archers finished off the Tigresses in five sets (25-20, 25-27, 18-25, 25-22, 15-12) to close out the double-round eliminations with only one loss in 14 matches.

Team skipper Cha Cruz had a team-high 17 points off 14 spikes and 2 blocks. Abigail Maraño made up for her early game struggles by coming alive in the last two sets, finishing with 15 points in the win.

Unlike the first match, the game was more tightly contested with the Lady Archers edging out their opponent in a well-fought first set, before a 6-1 run that was set off by a pair of UST errors effectively gave the ladies in Green and White the first set.

Soon after, DLSU ran off with an 18-10 advantage through a 6-2 scoring binge. The España volleybelles responded with 6-1 attack of their own where the Animo squad succumbed to 4 errors in that surge.

After four straight points to peg the score at 23-16, retaliation came in the form of seven straight points to wipe out the lead and led to an epic staredown to end the set. Unfortunately, the Lady Archers blinked first by committing two service errors by Michelle Gumabao and Maraño, forging a 1-1 tie entering the third set.

Seeking revenge after a humiliating collapse, the Lady Archers stifled the Tigresses with an 8-3 start to the third set, highlighted by a Jacq Alarca service ace. But the defending champions kept the Season 73 hosts pegged at 12 points to zoom ahead and take the second break point of the set.

Eventually, the Lady Archers couldn't get their game back on track and dropped the third set as well to trail for the first time this season.

In the fourth set, both teams engaged in point exchanges, seeing the game tied in nine separate occasions until the second break point was won by UST. However, the determined league leaders got things going with rejuvenated play from Maraño to knot the game at two sets apiece.

The deciding set finally saw the defending champions crumble due to fatigue and the assortment of injuries their players had to go through, specially captain Aiza Maizo who has been playing through back and ankle injuries.

In another related story, rookie Midori Hirotsuji missed the contest due to an ankle injury but was in uniform at the UST bench.

The Lady Archers pushed forward by capturing the lead for good after an Aiza Maizo spike tied the contest at 11, finally vanquishing the valliant effort of UST in the decider.

Maizo's 20 points from spikes led the Tigresses, but that was not enough to pull off a potentially morale-boosting win for the 10-4 Santo Tomas squad. Judy Caballejo added 17 points in the loss.

Meanwhile, Adamson University (AdU) broke their long-standing stalemate in the standings with Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) in a straight-sets sweep (25-14, 25-21, 25-16) to nab a meeting with UST in the Final Four.

Angela Benting scored 14 of her 19 total points to lead the Lady Falcons. Pau Soriano tallied 12 points. The San Marcelino squad now secure the third seed, avoiding a semi-finals date with league-leading DLSU.

Bea Pascual totalled 9 points in a losing cause. The Lady Eagles enter the post-season with an 8-6 record, good enough for 4th place.

Fighting Maroons, Growling Tigers improve standings entering F4

University of the Philippines (UP) frustrated De La Salle University (DLSU) in a three-set win (18-25, 25-27, 25-20, 18-25) to secure the third spot in their final elimination round game. MJ Arda leads the Maroons once again with 17 points, with Luis Aguilan following suit in totalling 14 points.

Although both teams sport equal 8-6 records, UP held the tiebreaker over DLSU. UP had a better point ratio (1.060) than DLSU (1.053). Emilio Lee had 18 points to lead the Taft spikers in the setback.

In the awaited return match of the top two men's squads, University of Santo Tomas exacted revenge on Far Eastern University in a four-set conquest (25-18, 26-28, 25-17, 25-23). Harby Ilano and Salvador Depante each had 13 points to lead the España spikers.

Via the points ratio tiebreaker, the Tigers (1.315) trump the Tamaraws (1.190) and thereby gain the #1 seed.

The Final Four begins on Wednesday with the 2 vs. 3 matchups in both the men's and women's divsions being contested. First up is the men's matchup pitting FEU against UP, followed by the women's matchup of UST and AdU.

UPCOMING GAMES
February 16, 2011 (Wednesday) - The Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan
MEN'S FINAL FOUR
2:00pm - Far Eastern vs. State U
WOMEN'S FINAL FOUR
4:00pm - Santo Tomas vs. Adamson

BOX SCORES:
MEN'S
First game      SETS    1   2   3   4   5
De La Salle     1       18  25  25  18
State U         3       25  27  20  25

Second game     SETS    1   2   3   4   5
Santo Tomas     3       25  26  25  25
Far Eastern     1       18  28  17  23

WOMEN'S
First game      SETS    1   2   3   4   5
Adamson         3       25  25  25
Ateneo          0       14  21  16

Second game     SETS    1   2   3   4   5
De La Salle     3       25  25  18  25  15
Santo Tomas     2       20  27  25  22  12

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