FAR Eastern University made up for an erratic start with a sweep of the next three sets in emphatic fashion, beating San Beda College, 23-25, 25-6. 25-11, 25-14, and advancing to the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.
After yielding the opening frame with a rash of errors, the Lady Tams regrouped and toughened up on their net and floor defense while Toni Rose Basas, Bernadeth Pons and team captain Mary Joy Palma took turns in offense to clobber the Red Spikers and notch their second straight win in Group B.
Joining FEU in the next round are University of the Philippines and University of Santo Tomas, which also swept their first two matches in the mid-season conference of the country’s premier women’s volley league sponsored by Shakey’s.
San Beda fell to 0-3 in a tie with St. Benilde and out of the quarters race.
The top three teams in the two-group, five-squad tournament advance to the quarters with their respective elims records with the top four moving to the best-of-three series.
“We’re happy we made it to the quarters, that’s our first goal,” said Shaq delos Santos, coach of FEU, one of the pioneers in the league where it all started and backed by Mikasa as official ball and Accel as official outfitter.
Basas led all hitters with 19 points while Pons and Palma added 14 and 13, respectively.
Kyle Negrita came off the bench to dish out 41 excellent sets, outplaying teammate and starting setter Maria Angelica Cayuna, who had 19 excellent sets in their first game but struggled a bit this time.
In the Spikers’ Turf Season 2 Collegiate Conference, UST hacked out a pulsating 25-14, 24-26, 23-25, 25-22, 15-13 victory over San Beda to force a three-way tie for the Group B lead while FEU bounced back from straight-set blowout to NU with a 25-17, 26-28, 25-15, 25-21 win over St. Benilde in Group A.
Jomaru Amagan and Manuel Medina combined for 45 hits but the Tigers still needed to walk the tightrope before foiling the Lions in 1:49 for their second straight win to join Ateneo and UP at the helm.
San Beda, led by guest player Jan Paglinawan’s 17 points and 10 hits each from Alfie Mascarinas and Peter Torres, fell to 0-2 in a tie with NCBA and Emilio Aguinaldo College.
The Tams, on the other hand, drew a combined 59-hit effort from Paul Bugaoan, Greg Dolor, Richard Solis and Jude Garcia, as they toppled the Blazers for joint third with La Salle behind National U and Perpetual Help’s 2-0 slates.
St. Benilde, which got 15 points from Johnvic De Guzman and 13 markers from Isaah Arda, also slid to 0-2 in a tie with Philippine Merchant Marine School.
Games Saturday
(Philsports Arena)
10 a.m. – Ateneo vs NCBA (S Turf)
12 noon – PMMS vs FEU (S Turf)
4 p.m. – San Beda vs St. Benilde (V League)
6 p.m. – UST vs UP (V League)
