By Andrei M. Barrantes

Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraw JJ Javelona steered the team to a 21-18, 20-22, 15-9 victory over Ateneo de Manila University (AdMU) Blue Eagles in the University Athletic Association (UAAP) season 86 men’s beach volleyball tourney battle for third match last November 28 at the Sands SM By The Bay volleyball sand court in Pasay City. 

After losing in the final four match against National University (NU) 11-21, 17-21, the Tamaraws set their eyes on the bronze medal match in the afternoon. 

The green-and-gold duo of Vincent Nadera and JJ Javelona played AdMU, composed of Jian Salarzon and Amil Pacino. 

The blue-and-white duo also faced and defeated FEU in the season 85 battle for third match a year ago.

In the first set, the Morayta squad managed to keep the scores close with no substantial lead being taken by either side of the sand court.

A balanced dose of Javelona’s scoring and the Katipunan squad’s errors helped FEU pull away in the first set, 21-18.

FEU managed a composed set, only having three errors to AdMU’s 10. 

Despite the early confidence booster, the Blue Eagles retaliated in the second set by matching every Tamaraw point with their own.

Although Javelona tied the set at 20-20 with a crosscourt attack and a service ace consecutively, the Javelona-Nadera duo fell 20-22 due consecutive Salarzon markers.

In the deciding set, Javelona set the tone with nine straight points with the first two being blocks.

Despite four errors from FEU in the set, they led by as much as seven and secured the podium finish, 15-9.

In a post-game interview, Javelona spoke on the journey the Tamaraws had from the start of the tourney up until the moment they clinched the podium finish.

“Ang masasabi ko is madami kaming lessons simula nung day one ng UAAP kasi pinaghirapan talaga namin makapasok sa final four (I guess I could say that we learned a lot of lessons going back from day one of the UAAP because we worked really hard to return to the final four),” Javelona said. 

Meanwhile, Nadera relished finally being on the winning side of the AdMU-FEU battle for the third match in the second time around and against the same players.

“Sobrang nakakainit ng dibdib kasi siyempre yun pa rin yung players nila eh. Tapos andito pa rin ako, and natalo kami last [season]. Ayun ‘yung parang nagbigay sa amin ng confidence talaga na dapat bumawi kami ngayon, kasi ayaw namin maulit yung feeling namin tulad ng last year (It's very heart-warming because of course those are still their players. Then I'm still here, and we lost last [season]. That's what really gave us confidence that we should recover now, because we don't want to repeat the feeling we had last year),” Nadera added.

The second runner-up award marked the first time that the Morayta-based sand spikers returned to the podium since Season 82 (including the canceled season 83 tourney).

(Photo courtesy of Yvan James Sacro/FEU Athletics Department)