Lady Tams fend off Lasy Warriors to boost F4 bid

MANILA, Philippines -- Far Eastern University held off a surprisingly tough University of the East, 25-16, 25-17, 22-25, 25-18, to boost its Final Four campaign in the UAAP Season 77 women's volleyball tournament Saturday at the Filoil Flying V Arena.

The Lady Warriors finally won a set this season and even led, 12-11, in the fourth frame before Bernadette Pons and Remy Palma combined forces down the stretch to help the Lady Tamaraws win for the first time in 2015 and improve to 4-5 card.

"Gumana ang depensa at attack ng mga open spikers (ng UE). Ganoon talaga, second round na ito. On and off pa rin ang laro, hindi puwedeng ganoon sa mga natitira naming laro," said FEU mentor Shaq delos Santos, whose wards halted a two-game slide.

Pons tallied 14 points and 11 digs, while Palma had two blocks to finish with 11 points for the Lady Tamaraws.

Later, University of Santo Tomas posted its first winning streak in the season with a 25-19, 25-16, 23-25, 25-15 win over Adamson University.

Rookie EJ Laure played her best game of the season with 19 hits, while veterans Carmela Tunay, Pam Lastimosa and Ria Meneses combined for 42 points as the Tigresses tied their victims at 3-5 in fifth spot.

"Coming to the game, maganda ang mood ng mga players, to think na paiba-iba kami ng venues for a week," said coach Odjie Mamon, whose team has to train in other gyms as UST was preparing for last week's Papal visit.

"Our seniors have realized kung paano ipu-fullfill nila. Kung hindi sila maka-score, may ibang paraan para ma-excel mga skills nila," he added.   

The Lady Warriors, who dropped to 0-9, drew big numbers from Shaya Adorador (14 hits) and Angelica Dacaymat (13 hits) but committed a whooping 38 errors.

In men's play, Greg Dolor had three blocks for a 23-point effort as FEU nipped UP, 25-21, 25-18, 18-25, 22-25, 15-10, for its third win in eight starts, while La Salle (2-7), behind Mike Frey's 16 hits, dealt UE its eighth consecutive loss with a 25-15, 22-25, 25-20, 25-22 victory.

Playing their best game of the season, the Lady Warriors snatched the third frame after substitute Laizah Bendong converted a service ace which turned out to be the set point.

The Lady Tamaraws frontline struggled, as Geneveve Casugod played only in the third set as she is recovering with an ankle injury, while Jerrili Malabanan chipped in only four points after an impressive eight-hit effort against the Lady Spikers last week.

"Kailangan namin ng panalo dahil target namin Top 4. Mahirap pero kailangan paghirapan namin," said Delos Santos, whose wards are now only trailing fourth-running University of the Philippines by half a game.