MANILA, Philippines – Univ. of Santo Tomas and Far Eastern U dispute the other championship berth in sudden death with the winner facing San Sebastian for the crown in the sixth Shakey’s V-League presented by Cherifer at The Arena in San Juan today.
The Lady Tams put on a gutsy stand then outsteadied the Tigresses in the last three sets to pull off a 16-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-23 victory last Sunday and force a deciding Game 3 in their Final Four duel.
But although FEU had grabbed the momentum, the España-based squad, which took the opener, also in four sets, 25-14, 25-23, 22-25, 25-18, last week, is expected to bounce back strong with the return of guest player Michelle Carolino.
The UST top spiker missed the team’s two semis games to compete in a beach volley tournament in Vietnam over the weekend. With Carolino back, the Tigresses are raring to get back at the Tigresses in a match tipped to go down-to-the-wire.
Gametime is at 4 p.m. For live webcast of the match, log on to www.v-league.ph.
“We played bad in Game 2,” said UST coach Cesael delos Santos, referring to skipper Aiza Maizo, who had a mediocre 12-point outing.
Aside from Maizo and Carolino, UST will be leaning on Mary Jean Balse, Bernice Co, Maika Ortiz and Rhea Dimaculangan to repulse FEU and remain in the hunt for a fourth championship in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and organized by Sports Vision.
FEU again hopes to neutralize UST’s power game with a tough net defense and get its offense going through Rachel Daquis, Cherry Vivas, Maica Morada, Mayette Carolino and guest player Rubie de Leon.
“We need to improve our defense. We were able to control UST’s drop shots the last time out and we hope we can do it again,” said FEU coach Nes Pamilar.