Lady Tams stop Tigresses, force decider

FAR Eastern University ( FEU) got back at University of Santo Tomas ( UST) in big fashion, rallying from an opening set defeat with a string of impressive victories to pull off a 22- 25, 25- 13, 25- 14, 25- 20, on Saturday and force a sudden death for a finals berth in the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Collegiate Conference at The Arena in San Juan City.

The Lady Tams actually blew the Tigresses with a fiery 9- 0 binge in the opening set but lost in the face of the latter’s strong comeback.

But the Morayta- based school, with Celine Domingo on the firing end, reasserted their might in the next two frames then bounced back from an early deficit in the fourth to pound out the victory.

Domingo came through with nine attack points, six kill blocks and four aces while Jerrili Malabanan scored all her 17 hits on kills to power the Lady Tams to the series-tying victory.

UST, which also fought back from a set down to take the opener of their best- of- three series, 1625, 26- 24, 25- 18, 25- 23, last Wednesday drew a lone double- digit output from Milena Alessandrini, who scored 13 points.

“We executed out game play well. We worked on our service and reception and hopefully, it will be the same in Game Three,” said FEU coach George Pascua.

In the men’s semifinals, UST fended off Adamson in a marathon four- set duel, carving out a 2518, 25- 22, 16- 25, 32- 30 victory while Far Eastern U rallied from an opening set setback to stun top seed National U, 21- 25, 25- 22, 25- 17, 25- 23, as the Tigers and the Tams edged closer to the finals.