Lady Tams overwhelm Eagles, gain quarterfinals

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U bounced back from its disappointing setback to San Sebastian with a 25-22, 25-22, 25-22 victory over Ateneo-OraCare yesterday to seal a first-ever appearance in the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Lady Tams worked on their floor defense lacking in their straight-set loss to the Lady Stags last Tuesday, which kept their offensive game going throughout the 1:15 encounter for the all-important victory.

FEU thus closed out its stint in the single round elims in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza with a 5-2 card, joining early qualifiers Univ. of Santo Tomas and San Sebastian, with 5-1 slates apiece, while leaving Ateneo-OraCare on the brink of elimination.

The Lady Eagles, who recovered from a poor start to gain a crack at the last quarterfinal berth in the tournament organized by Sports Vision, wound up with a 4-3 card, their chances for a playoff hinge on Adamson’s match with San Sebastian at presstime.

A victory by the Lady Falcons (4-2) will eliminate the Eagles while a San Sebastian win will pave the way for an Ateneo-Adamson playoff for the last QF seat on Sunday.

UST primed up for the quarters with a 25-10, 25-9, 25-15 rout of St. Benilde in the second game. The Tigresses finished the elims on top with a 6-1 mark while the Blazers closed out with a 2-5 slate.

Joining the top four teams in the quarters of the tournament backed by Accel, Mikasa and OraCare, are University of San Jose-Recoletos of Cebu and University of St. La Salle-Bacolod.

“We toughened up on our floor defense and we focused on our service and reception because our defense really suffered the last time against the Stags,” said FEU coach Nes Pamilar.

The FEU-Ateneo game will be telecast at 2 p.m. today on NBN-4. For details, log on to www.v-league.ph.

Maica Morada starred for FEU with 15 hits while Shaira Gonzalez and guest player Mayette Carolino scored 13 points apiece.

Rachel Anne Daquis also atoned for her dismal three-point showing against SSC as she came through with 11 hits this time.

With its defense holding, FEU limited Thai import Keawbundit Sontaya to 16 points and held the rest of the Lady Eagles below nine points.

Kara Acevedo had eight hits while alumna Charo Soriano struggled with just six points.

After dropping the first two sets in close fashions, Ateneo-OraCare wrested the lead at 21-20 on an Acevedo kill. But Tina Salak scored her lone point on a drop shot to force at tie before Morada came up with a block and Daquis unloaded a kill to shove FEU to a 23-21 lead.

Acevedo’s service ace kept Ateneo-OraCare within at 22-23 but Daquis scored on another attack and Carolino wrapped up the match with a block.