DESPITE LOSS, USC ADVANCES TO SEMIS
USC loses to UC in five sets in final elimination match, but beats Webmasters in tiebreak
The University of San Carlos (USC) may have lost to the University of Cebu (UC) in their final elimination match yesterday, 26-24, 23-25, 25-18, 22-25, 15-12 at the USC Main Gym. But the Warriors get to have the last laugh after edging out the Webmasters on just a single point in the three-way tie breaker to clinch the second semifinals slot of Group A in the Men’s Division of the Mayor’s Cup Volleyball Open.
USC earned that much-needed point after going five sets with UC. The loser of a five-set match earns a point, while the winner gets three.
USC, UC and University of Bohol all finished with identical 2-2 records.
“I expected that we would be eliminated. But after reviewing the point system, we were ahead by a point,” said USC head coach Harvey Bernil.
After splitting the first four sets, UC took a commanding 13-6 lead in the fifth but USC had a 6-0 run, mostly coming from UC’s errors, to cut it down to just a point, 13-12.
USC’s rally finally ended after a block went out of bounds to give UC the match point.
Johnedel Flores scored with a vicious spike for the game winnerfor UC.
“They gave it their best but we still fell short,” said Bernil.
USC takes on Group B top seed Cebu Province in the semifinals.
“We need to improve on our receiving, passing and blocking. I won’t say that it’s because most of them are new player because they have been playing since elementary and high school. They just need to adjuast in college. We’ll do our best in the semis and hopefully we’ll be able to adjust,” said Bernil.
Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma earlier walked away with an easy default win over Techno to take the top seed of of Group A in the Men’s Division and will take on University of San Jose-Recoletos in the semifinals.
Meanwhile, in the Women’s Division, SWU-Phinma and USC won in their respective groups. SWU-Phinma came from behind to beat South Spikers in four sets in Group A. /