FAR Eastern University kept its bid for a finals spot alive, fighting back from two sets down to beat La Salle, 15-25, 23-25, 25-23, 25-21, 16-14 on Sunday in the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament at the MOA Arena.
Third year outside hitter Bernadeth Pons led the attack for the Lady Tamaraws with 20 points, all on spikes, skipper Mary Palma scored 18 and sophomore Toni Basas had 17 markers.
La Salle looked all set to book another title showdown with Ateneo when it took the first two sets but simply crumbled and allowed FEU to extend the match.
“Actually kahit sa practice ganoon ang nagyayari sa amin, sa mga tune up namin,” revealed FEU coach Shaq de los Santos of their bad start. “Pero ’yun nga nakikita namin na nakaka-recover naman sila.”
“Kaya kanina kahit nakuhaan kami ng dalawang sets, honestly speaking, hindi kami nawawalan ng pag-asa.”
The Lady Tamaraws are looking to book a finals appearance for the first time since Season 71 when they lost to La Salle.
The deciding match of the semifinals is set on Wednesday with the title series to start on Saturday.
Ateneo stayed on track for the triple with a straight-sets win over the season's suprise package University of the Philippines in the other semifinal.
“Naging maganda ‘yung ano (scouting) namin, napaghandaan namin ‘yung atake nila and siguro ‘yung pressure lang,” said delos Santos. “‘Yung pagod, I think ‘di basta mapapagod ang La Salle, kasi ‘yung kundisyon nila alam ko kung paano maghanda ‘yan eh so siguro na ano lang, swerte na nakuha ‘yung puntos.”
Kim Dy scored 20 points for La Salle, Ara Galang and Demecillo each had 14 markers, Mary Joy Baron added 13 and Mika Reyes chipped in 10.