Tigresses halt Tams streak for solo lead

MANILA, Philippines - University of Santo Tomas fought back from seven points down in the fourth set to stop Far Eastern U’s win run, fashioning out a 25-23, 21-25, 25-22, 27-25 victory to regain the solo lead in the sixth Shakey’s V-League at The Arena in San Juan last night.

Michelle Carolino presided the Tigresses’ rally from a 12-19 deficit in the fourth where the three-time champions won 10 of the next 13 points to force a 22-all count, battled the Lady Tams to three more deadlocks before seizing the lead for good at 26-25 as FEU’s Cherry Vivas’ hit went wide.

UST, stopped on its tracks by a resurgent Ateneo-OraCare in a five-setter, thus picked up its fourth win against a loss, assuring itself of a playoff for a quarterfinal berth while sending the Lady Tams into a tie with Adamson and San Sebastian with identical 3-1 slates.

Earlier, St. Benilde nipped Lyceum in a thrilling five-setter, 25-23, 21-25, 25-11, 23-25, 15-13, and remained in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth while eliminating the Lady Pirates from contention.

Guest player Maureen Penetrante atoned for an earlier miscue as she delivered the match-clinching hit to end the two-hour and 12-minute encounter in favor of the Lady Blazers.

It was only St. Benilde’s second win in five starts but enough to keep them in the race for one of the slots in the next round with two games left in the single round elims phase.

The Lady Pirates, meanwhile, reeled to their fifth setback against a lone win, bowing out of the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and organized by Sports Vision.

“We are still on target to make it to the Top 4. But we have to get a good preparation and training. We may be a weak team compared to others, but we will keep on fighting,” said St. Benilde coach Thelma Barina-Rojas.

Penetrante wound up with 21 hits while Giza Yumang added 19 points for St. Benilde, which will face Ateneo tomorrow and UST next week at the close of the elims round of the tournament backed by Accel, Mikasa and OraCare.

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St. Benilde also drew a pair of solid games from reinforcement Ivy Remulla, who dished off a conference-high 14 hits and Katty Kwan, who had 10 hits.

Joy Cases led Lyceum with 18 hits while Syvie Artates came up with three blocks and finished with 16 hits, including a set-winning kill in the fourth to extend the match.