Lady Tams subdue Bombers, boost semis bid

Games Saturday 8 a.m. – St. Benilde vs UST (men’s) 10 a.m. – Ateneo vs National U (men’s) 1 p.m. – Arellano vs UP (women’s) 4 p.m. – St. Benilde vs TIP (women’s) 6:30 p.m. – National U vs Ateneo (women’s)

Far Eastern U bucked a shaky first set and dominated the last two as it walloped ousted Jose Rizal University, 28-26, 25-14, 25-15, to bolster its semifinal bid in the Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan yesterday.

The Lady Tamaraws checked an error-marred opening frame where they gave away 16 points on miscues as they landed more precise hits in the second set and cashed in on the Lady Bombers’ poor service reception in the third to pull away and notch their third win in four games for a share of second with Ateneo.

FEU thus rebounded from a four-set setback to unbeaten Group A leader National University two weeks ago and the Lady Tams did it without ace Bernadeth Pons who is in Singapore for the Southeast Asian Beach Volleyball Championships.

“That’s what we are really trying to minimize because in our loss against NU, we had 35 errors. I guess they were just excited so they lost their timing,” said FEU coach George Pascua.

Toni Basas hammered in 15 points while Celine Domingo and Jeanette Villareal came through with eight markers apiece for FEU which scorched on the offensive end, connecting on 41 hits to JRU’s 18, and landed nine aces.

Also-ran San Sebastian succumbed in a back-and-forth finish in the second set but prevailed in the last two as it toppled Lyceum, 25-15, 24-26, 25-16, 2523, to check a two-game slide and end its Group A campaign at 2-3.

SSC also booted Lyceum out of the semis race as the Lady Pirates fell to 1-3.