ONE last ticket to the UAAP Season 86 women's volleyball finals still hangs in the balance following a pair of contrasting results over the last week to begin Final Four action.
Far Eastern University opened semifinals hostilities with a seismic 25-23, 25-17, 25-23 upset over top-seed National University to force a rubber match on Wednesday for the right to face University of Sto. Tomas in the title series after the Tigresses dethroned La Salle in five grueling sets.
READ: Kungfu Reyes struck by Ramil De Jesus' humility after La Salle loss
Here's the story for the semifinalists by the numbers as the final week of UAAP action beckons.
2
The Lady Bulldogs were left shell-shocked in a straight-sets defeat to the Lady Tamaraws as they'll now have to max out their twice-to-beat advantage in their forthcoming do-or-die showdown.
Simply put, win number two for FEU in the Final Four over NU will propel the former to its quest for a first title in nearly two decades while denying the latter's bid for a second UAAP crown in the last three seasons.
And after two straight losses in the elimination round, the Morayta side looks to overcome its twice-to-win disadvantage and become the first fourth-seed in the Final Four era to reach the championship round.
5
For only the fifth time in the last 27 years, a Ramil de Jesus-led De La Salle Lady Spikers side missed out on a trip to the Finals after 20 previous appearances with 12 titles and eight runner-up finishes.
Since taking the reins for the Taft side in Season 60 (1997-98), RDJ only ever finished outside the top two in Season 81 in 2019 (third place), Season 70 in 2008 (sixth place), Season 69 in 2007 (suspended) and Season 60 in 1998 (fourth place).
Their Season 86 tormentor UST, meanwhile, pulled off a repeat of its Final Four triumph over the then-defending champions La Salle exactly five years ago at the same venue — this time, in front of a 19,505-strong crowd at the Mall of Asia Arena to also snap its own five-year semis drought.
Over on the opposite end of the Final Four, five has been the Lady Tamaraws' unlucky number as they lost five times in total back in the elimination round against their fellow semifinalists — twice to La Salle, twice to NU and once to UST. Their breakthrough semis win over the Lady Bulldogs, however, marked the end of its five-year skid to the reigning runners-up.
For NU, losing to FEU in its rubber match will put an end to a five-season streak of the No. 1 seed winning the UAAP women's volleyball championship.
12
12 could be the lucky number the España side has long waited for.
The last time UST won the UAAP women's volleyball championship in Season 72 (2010), it had a 12-2 (win-loss) record and traversed the Final Four as the second-seed with a twice-to-beat advantage en route to the title.
How about the Season 86 Tigresses? They also had a 12-2 record, their best elimination round run in head coach Kungfu Reyes' nine-year run to date, and took the No. 2 seed with the twice-to-beat bonus.
Whether history will repeat itself up until the very end 14 years later for UST now rests in the hands of Reyes & Co. as they await their title foe between longtime rival FEU or NU.
14
For the returning finalists, the number 14 will be ingrained in the Tigresses' minds and hearts as they fight to bring the crown back to España.
14 years ago, now-assistant coach Shaq delos Santos was at the helm of the last UST side that won the UAAP women's volleyball title in Season 72.
It was a star-studded array of Philippine volleyball stalwarts that steered the Tigresses to championship glory led by Finals MVP Rhea Dimaculangan, Aiza Maizo, Dindin Santiago and Ge Tabaquero among many others.
14 years later, with a parallel route to the title thus far, the new generation of UST aces led by Rookie of the Year frontrunner Angge Poyos and team captain Detdet Pepito are two wins away from restoring lost glory.
16
Regardless of how NU and FEU's rubber match plays out, the Season 86 Finals will be the first in 16 years without Ateneo or La Salle in the championship round.
It was the Lady Tamaraws that ruled the last title series without the two ace schools in Season 70 (2008) in a spirited comeback from 0-1 down to Adamson.
Since then, FEU only reached the Finals twice in the last 16 years back in Season 71 (2009) and Season 80 (2018). Both instances had the same outcome: a runner-up finish to La Salle.
The Morayta side has its best chance yet to end a longstanding title drought two years after a dismal one-win campaign. But a win over NU in the Final Four will precede any further hope for a breakthrough title romp for FEU.
30
NU had its streak-busting championship moment back in Season 84 (2022) when it ended a 65-year title drought led by then-rookie MVP Bella Belen.
From one skidding team to another, FEU has its sights set on making history of its own as the winningest school in all of the UAAP in both men's and women's tournaments.
Since FEU's last Finals apperance in Season 80, the Lady Tamaraws have lost 29 elimination round matches — equal to their total number of titles.
And with its men's team on the hunt for title number 26, FEU looks to become the first college volleyball program in the country, either men's or women's, to win 30 total championships.
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