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UST Tigres defeated La Salle to earn a final ticket to the UAAP Season 86 Women's Volleyball Tournament. –Marlo Cueto/INQUIRER.net
Players booking a spot in the championship from the other side of the semi-finals of the UAAP Season 86 Women's Volleyball Tournament should consider Far Eastern University (FEU).
The Lady Tamaraws refused to be intimidated by the powerhouse National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs and brought the Final Four showdown to the deciding game.
And they did just that decisively, using last Saturday's 25-23, 25-17, 25-23 win to bait their rivals into two losing seasons and one of the worst seasons in school history. Since then, it has completed its ascent to 2018. The pinnacle of the title fight.
„We're very eager to reach the finals,“ said setter Tin Ubaldo, one of two players remaining on the Season 84 one-win team. „(That season) was the inspiration for us to be here. Every time we look back on (that season), we tell ourselves, it's never going to happen again.“
Ubaldo expertly pulled the strings for FEU with six points and an impressive set of 16 as the Lady Tamaraws went from dark horse to legitimate title contender.
„All I can say is, don't forget about FEU (when talking about title candidates),“ said FEU's rookie coach Manolo Refugia.
Refugia is the Lady Tamaraws' third coach in recent seasons and has instilled a sense of belief in his wards, so much so that the team has lost its last six games, including two in this tournament, to NU. was hardly a problem.
„Even during training I felt like (this win) was achievable,“ Refugia said of the upset.
At the time of writing, the University of Santo Tomas and La Salle University were playing in the other Final Four bracket. The Lady Spikers, the tournament's defending champions, were also looking to break the Tigres' playoff shield and take the duel to the deciding match.
On Wednesday, the Lady Tamaraws will try something that was hardly considered before the season began. A victory at the Big Dome will earn FEU a spot in the finals.
having one's feet on the ground
„My emotions are running high, but as the saying goes, the work is not done yet. There is work to be done. Make sacrifices,“ Refugia said. „We don't forget to keep our feet on the ground. We're on cloud nine now, so we need to come back (to Earth) and (show) that we still have a lot left. We will fight intend.“
„On Wednesday, whoever wants to, who can dig (deeper), who has the will to win, that's going to (advance),“ he added.
FEU will strive to become that team.
„I don't want to go back to that feeling of being so depressed,“ said Cheney Tagaod, the other remaining member of the Season 84 team.
In addition to Ubaldo and Tagaodo, Jean Assis, Mitzi Panangin, Faida Bakanke, and libero Anne Monales also performed miracles for the Lady Tamaraws against NU, powering the Lady Bulldogs with 14 impressive receptions. dulled it.
They will be required to make another valiant effort against a team that has been in the Championship for the past two seasons and FEU was languishing in the basement two seasons ago. INQ