Tigers repel Falcons, earn last F4 seat

MANILA, Philippines — Arnold Bautista presided over the endgame assault as University of Santo Tomas outlasted Adamson, 25-20, 25-23, 19-25, 23-25, 15-11, to claim the last Final Four seat in the UAAP Season 80 men’s volleyball tourney at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.

Bautista dropped three booming hits in his 17-point performance to help the Tigers close it out from an 11-10 contest and set a semis duel with waiting No. 1 National U on Sunday.

“I remained confident during the fifth best because our senior player Bautista was there and he took charge,” said UST coach Odjie Mamon of his veteran, who complemented the leading 21-point outing of Joshua Umandal.

The Tigers reached the semis despite a five-game slump in the middle of the tourney, beating Adamson twice, first in the final game of the elims last Saturday to force a tie for No. 4.

The UST spikers’ semis entry also put a lock on the season’s general championship as they mustered enough points that pursuing La Salle couldn’t overcome anymore regardless of the outcome of ongoing events.

“We achieved our two goals today. Number one was for us to maintain our No. 4 ranking and No. 2 to finish ahead of La Salle in the general championship. So whatever we achieve in the future, will  be a sweet bonus,” said Mamon.

The Tigers squandered a two-set lead but regained their wits in the decider, where they raced to an 11-6 cushion sparked by Jerald David Tajanlangit’s back-to-back aces. AdU strung up four straight points to make it a one-point contest before Bautista did his thing.

John Philip Yude and George Labang Jr. paced the Falcons with 20 and 18, respectively.