By Andrei M. Barrantes

Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws struggled to hang onto the match against the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, 17-25, 25-13, 17-25, 20-25, in the University Athletic Association (UAAP) Season 86 women’s volleyball tourney today, March 6, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

Despite the overwhelming error disparity of 14-28, the Lady Tams fell to NU’s defensive prowess and consistency.

A quick barrage of attacks by the Lady Bulldogs led by Alyssa Solomon established an early lead that took the Lady Tamaraws off guard.

Although a pair of crosscourt kills by middle blocker Jean Asis and back-to-back service aces by Gerzel Petallo trimmed the lead to four, the Morayta volleybelles trailed leading into three technical timeouts, 17-25.

In the second set, the green-and-gold squad capitalized on the eight NU errors to establish an early lead that went up by as much as 10. Asis picked up the pace scoring six points to lead the volleybelles, 25-13. 

Though momentum was in favor of the Lady Tams, Solomon proved to be hard to suppress in the third set. Her blocks and kills provided enough to claim the set  for the Jhocson-based squad, 17-25.

In the do-or-die set, scoring was tight as Alyzza Devosora and Evangeline Alinsug traded kills. Unfortunately for the Lady Tams, the close set didn’t last for long as Solomon, Alinsug, and Belen would combine to pull away and seal the game for NU, 20-25.

In a post-game interview with FEU Advocate, head coach Manolo Refugia called to quickly recover from their third loss and stay prepared for the forthcoming games of the first round.

“Ang takeaway ko lang kung paano kami makakabangon papunta sa Saturday game namin, papuntang Adamson (My only takeaway is how we will bounce back ahead of our Saturday game against Adamson),” he said.

Petallo led in scoring with 17 points, 15 attacks, and two service aces while Asis chipped in 11 markers to go along with two blocks.

Margarett Encarnacion held solo libero responsibilities as Anne Monares returned to her natural opposite spiker position.

Coach Refugia commended the green-and-gold libero, but expects a braver performance going forward.

“Okay naman siya [Margarett] kanina, pero kailangan [niya] pang panindigan (She did well today, she just needs to own her role more),” he added.

FEU falls to a 2-3 win-loss record and will try to return to an even card against Adamson University (AdU) on March 9 at the same venue.

(Photo by Jan Dendiego/FEU Advocate)