The three-team dilemma plaguing the last Final Four spot had a chance to be dissolved with an FEU loss. The Lady Tams, however, refused to bow out.
Marie Toni Basas scored 15 points on 11 attacks to lead the resilient Lady Tamaraws over the University of the East Lady Warriors, Saturday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan, in the 74th UAAP women's volleyball tournament.
UE hit the ground running, playing decently at the 13-6 mark until Coach Boy Dalistan opted to send marquee player Sarina Bulan out of the playing court for her iffy play. FEU then took advantage, coupling UE’s mishaps with unanswered points of their own, with Mary Rose Baniel, Rosemarie Vargas and Samantha Dawson all chipping in for the green and gold.
Although UE would hit the double-digit mark with the score at 20-10, FEU kept piling on the lead, with an attack from Eulalio ending the set at 25-14.
The Lady Warriors still could not strike a healthy balance between avoiding errors and answering the Lady Tams’ offense in the second set, as the FEU lead started early at 4-3, after Lady Warrior Leuseht Dawis committed a spiking error.
Although Vargas had trouble containing the power on her spikes, she and her squad continued to bully the Lady Warriors, leading by as much as ten points at 24-14. FEU went up 2-0 after a Vargas spike, 25-18, allowing UE to come close at 9-7, before blowing them away.
With head coach Dalistan furious, the UE Lady Warriors regained their spirits, playing rejuvenated in the last few possessions of the third set. After FEU held the lead for the whole set, the Lady Warriors eventually cut the deficit and evened the game at 21 after a tip by Dawis. Both teams went tooth-and-nail for every possession until UE team captain Dawn Dizon spiked the ball out of the court to give UE breathing room at two points, 24-22.
Dizon, however, redeemed herself by scoring two consecutive points on a spike and a power tip. Basas would fall short on a spiking error, but made a hit just in time to even the game at 25-25. Lady Warrior Shiesa Nebrida exchanged points with Wenneth Eulalio, until a clutch play by Basas and a service error by Lady Warrior Cristel Rosale closed out the set for FEU and the season for UE, 29-27.
After losing center spiker Mayjorie Roxas to an MCL injury last Sunday in a game against the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Spikers, FEU coach Nes Pamilar replaced her with Dawson to help the frontline’s cause.
The Lady Tams now face a clincher against the Adamson Lady Falcons after the San Marcelino-based squad fell to the UST Tigresses in three sets.