UAAP: Adamson volleyball squads pull off twin wins in critical playoff matches

(Updated 6:51pm) The Adamson men's and women's volleyball squads won key playoff matches to earn Final Four berths in their UAAP Season 76 tournaments. The Falcons dispatched the DLSU Green Archers via a sweep, 25-20 26-24 25-23, while the Lady Falcons needed five sets, 25-17 23-25 23-25 25-13 15-11 to finally overcome the FEU Lady Tamaraws, Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Arena.

The men's squad enters the Final Four as the fourth seed, matched up against the league-leading NU Bulldogs.

On the women's side, due to the defending champs DLSU Lady Spikers running the table in the elimination round, the Lady Falcons meet third-ranked ADMU Lady Eagles in a winner-take-all game, for the right to advance up the stepladder. The winner of that series will then take on the number two NU Lady Bulldogs, who are armed with a twice-to-beat advantage.

Five-set grind for the Lady Falcons

The Lady Falcons kicked off the opening set with a 5-1 scoring run ignited by Mayette Zapanta’s attacks continuously finding their way through the FEU blockers. Marleen Cortel and Faye Guevara contributed to the Lady Falcon’s defense as they entered the first technical timeout on top with an 8-4 advantage. With Mae Macatuno’s taking on the duties of setter, distributing the ball to her spikers, Adamson’s lead ballooned to 16-10.

FEU’s constant unforced errors and Shiela Pineda’s scoring exhibition saw the Lady Falcons begin to pull away. Pineda’s block on the towering Geneveve Casugod gave the Lady Falcons a 22-14 cushion, and she then scored the Lady Falcon’s last three points via a drop shot and two overpowering check balls. AdU notched the first set, 25-17.

The Lady Tamaraws adjusted to the pace of the match in the second set, as they claimed a slim one-point advantage by the first technical timeout at 8-7. With a Macatuno service error, a Bernadeth Pons block and a botched front-row attack, coach Sherwin Meneses was forced to call for time as the Lady Falcons found themselves down, 14-10. The Lady Tamaraws however increased their lead by the second technical timeout to 16-10 due to a Pons attack and a Casugod single block.

The Lady Falcons found themselves down 20-13 deficit before Pineda delivered another offensive outburst. The FEU blockers had no chance against her block-piercing spikes, as she was able to trim the lead to three, 22-19. Adamson built on their momentum with a well-timed Guevara block and a Zapanta cross-court hit that inched them closer at 22-21.

Marie Simborio’s down the line kill and a net violation called against Adamson pushed FEU to set point at 24-21. The Lady Falcons retaliated by bringing in Amanda Villanueva as she spiked home a point, 24-23. However a costly outside hit by Villanueva gave the set to the Lady Tams, 25-23.

The Lady Tamaraws sustained theie energy in the third set as they managed a 16-11 advantage, with Gyzelle Sy’s well-placed sets to the soaring Casugod and Pons providing much of FEU’s offense. Adamson answered back quickly with four straight points care of Villanueva, to bring the Lady Falcons close at 17-16. The Lady Falcons continuously crawled near the one-point mark at 20-19, 22-21 and 24-23. But despite Macatuno, Cortel and Pineda’s efforts, the front-row presence of the injured Mary Palma was enough to give FEU a 25-23 win, off a kill to the open zone.

Adamson picked up the slack come the fourth set as the aggressiveness of Guevara propelled them to a quick 8-5 advantage. The Lady Falcons connected from every conceivable angle as they rendered the Lady Tamaraws scoreless by the second technical timeout, before they increased their lead to 16-5. The Lady Falcons never looked back and forced a fifth and final set with a score of 25-13.

FEU opened the final set with a 4-1 start capped off by a Palma ace. Adamson though bounced back to tie the set at 6-all with Zapanta, Pineda and Guevara relentlessly attacking their opponents. The Lady Falcons unfortunately gave the Lady Tamaraws the lead at 8-7 as they lined up their third service error of the set.

However, as expected, the veteran Pineda boosted her squad ahead, 10-8, as she tallied two consecutive points. Pineda was too much to handle for the Lady Tamaraws as they bubbled their lead up to 14-10. Adamson then sealed their ticket against the Ateneo Lady Eagles with a 15-11 win care of Villanueva’s hit, which bounced off the FEU blockers.

Pineda was named the game’s best player with 25 points, 24 care of attacks.

Falcons too much for Archers

Adamson's men's team got 16 points from team captain Michael Sudaria and 14 from John Mallapre, the duo combining for 24 of their team's 42 spikes. Libero Rence Melgar added 14 excellent digs, as Adamson dominated that category 27-17.

DLSU got just one scorer in double-figures, Raymark Woo, who managed 13. - AMD, GMA News