MANILA, Philippines (Eagle News) – De La Salle University used their shock loss last Saturday to knock off Far Eastern University in a do-or-die match for the last finals seat in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 78 women’s volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.
In contrast to their five-set meltdown, the Lady Archers made sure there was no upset and swept the Lady Tamaraws in three sets. Last Saturday, FEU forced the rubber match after nixing De La Salle’s twice-to-beat advantage, 15-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 16-14.
Team captain Kim Fajardo scored six points and made 50 excellent sets that proved the difference for the team. Mika Reyes and Ara Galang led the way with 10 points each.
The win sets up a fifth straight matchup between De La Salle and Ateneo for the women’s crown in a best-of-three affair starting this Saturday, April 23. This also gives the Lady Archers its eight straight Finals appearance.
Earlier, National University booked the other finals spot in the men’s division with a four-set, 19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 25-23 win.
Similar to their Game 1 performance, the Lady Spikers from Taft Avenue dominated and overpowered the Lady Tamaraws to take command of the first set to the tune of a 25-15 win.
Eventually, in the second set, the game went into a see-saw battle but De La Salle proved too great for the FEU spikers and took the frame with a score of 27-25.
In the third set, FEU came from an 18-9 deficit behind the heroic performances of Bernadeth Pons, Toni Basas, and Heather Guino-o, but their efforts were put to waste by both Galang and Fajardo.
Pons and Basas topped the Lady Tams with 10 points each in the loss. FEU has failed to advance to the title round since Rachel Anne Daquis bannered their squad in a losing effort against the Manilla Santos-led De La Salle squad in 2008. Diego de la Paz, with reports from Marco Oliveros
Photo credit: Franchesca Lim / Sports On Air
