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FEU enters semis with win over Arellano, Adamson wallops Davao in Shakey’s V-League q’finals


QUARTERFINAL TEAM STANDINGS

Group 1:

UST 2-0 (6 pts)

Adamson 1-1 (3pts)

Ateneo 1-2 (4 pts)

Davao 1-2 (2 pts)

Group 2:

NU 2-0 (6 pts)

FEU 2-1 (6 pts)

Arellano 1-2 (3 pts)

St. Benilde 0-2 (0 pts)

QUARTERFINAL GAMES ON THURSDAY (May 8th at The Arena, San Juan City)

2:00PM NU (2-0) vs. St. Benilde (0-2)

4:00PM Adamson (1-1) vs. UST (2-0)

THE ARENA, San Juan City—From mere support players in their debuts, the Far Eastern University (FEU) reinforcement duo of Power Pinays Rachel Anne Daquis and Jovelyn Gonzaga showed their fangs as they combined for 41 points as the Lady Tamaraws defeated the former league leading Arellano University (AU) Lady Chiefs 25-16, 25-15, 24-26, 25-16 to assure itself of a semifinals berth while a rejuvenated Adamson University demolished crowd-favorite Davao in straight sets 25-15, 25-23, 25-15 to keep its Final Four hopes alive in the penultimate day of quarterfinals competition in the ongoing Shakey’s V-League Season 11 first conference here.

Daquis, the national team skipper, unloaded a season-high 21 markers for FEU which included five aces from her vaunted “Remote Control Serve” as the Lady Chiefs’ form continued to plummet after opening the season with an immaculate 3-0 slate. AU has now lost three of its last four matches with this last one being the final blow to their title aspirations as they will join idle St. Benilde as the two teams eliminated from Group 2.

While Daquis, the 26-year-old bombshell from Taytay, Rizal kept the opposing receivers busy with her tantalizing serves, Gonzaga, the 21-year-old from Jordan, Guimaras tore apart the Arellano defenses with her lefty detonations off brilliant sets from league Best Setter frontrunner Yna Papa. Gonzaga also shone brightly on defense as she came away with twenty “excellents” (13 excellent digs and 7 excellent receptions) that led to almost flawless playmaking for Papa, whose 28 excellent sets padded her lead in the setting department over her closest rival; Davao’s En-En Raterta.

The regular starters also had a field day as starting middle-hitter Remy Palma—slowly regaining her agility as she recovers from a bum left knee—garnered fourteen points (including three blocks) and team scoring leader Bernadeth Pons, who unleashed a barrage of shots en route to eleven markers.

Arellano showed its old form in the third set when they capitalized on some lackluster moments from the Lady Tamaraws to get back into the groove on both ends. Former FEU player Danna Henson—now fully recovered from a bout with the flu—scored most of her eleven points in the third canto as she was joined by six-foot teenager CJ Rosario and former National University (NU) varsity athlete Elaine Sagun in matching FEU practically spike for spike. However, the Lady Chiefs seemed to run out of fuel in the fourth set and the Morayta lasses imposed their will anew to advance to only its fourth semifinal since joining the league in 2004.

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The last time the Lady Tams advanced to the Final Four was in 2010, then under Head Coach Nes Pamilar and lost the bronze medal series to Lyceum. That was also Daquis’ final year as a regular player for FEU.

The victory by the Lady Tamaraws also assured that NU—the defending champions—also advance to the semis, which should render the Lady Bulldogs’ upcoming clash against NCAA semifinalist the College of St. Benilde on Thursday (May 8th) a non-bearing affair.

But there actually is so much at stake for NU in that match-up as a win would assure them of the top spot in their group and avoid a semifinals confrontation with—quite possibly—the University of Santo Tomas (UST); the squad that stretched them to five sets during the preliminary round.

But Adamson may have a thing or two to say about that claim as they became the last team to get their quarterfinal stint underway and ended up getting the much needed triumph over the Lady Agilas.

Sheila “Bangnita” Pineda—playing in her final year as a regular player—epitomized the phrase “pintsized phenom” as she relentlessly outhustled the team known for hustle. Pineda bombed away at the net defenses of the Davaoeñas and altered their usually incredible floor patrolling skills with a variety of attacks that threw everything off for the Lady Agilas. The 5’4” UAAP scoring race runner-up lit it up for a game-high fourteen points, while former Thai national captain Patcharee Saengmuang supported Pineda’s efforts with a solid line of her own: thirteen points on offense to going along with a team-high eight excellent digs on defense. Pineda added seven excellent digs of her own in the all-around brilliance.

The frontline tandem of Mylene Paat and guest player/assistant coach Pau Soriano also made its mark at the net by disrupting the attackers on defense. So intense was the total defensive effort by the Lady Falcons that Davao’s four-headed scoring threat of league scoring leader Mitch Agton, skipper Venus Flores and the length pair of Angel Antipuesto and Neneng Tapic could only muster eight points apiece, while dynamo Princess Oliveros could only manage seven points in the loss.

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Raterta, the team’s celebrated orchestrator, still got her usual setting numbers. However, because she had to concentrate on making sure the second ball was hittable by her teammates, her floor defense suffered and as a result the Lady Agilas—as well as idle Ateneo—now pin their hopes on a UST victory at the end of the quarterfinal phase this Thursday.

The scenario I discussed previously now comes to play.

For Davao (1-2) and the Lady Eagles (1-2) to have a shot at making it to the Final Four, Adamson (1-1) must lose to UST (already through with a 2-0 win-loss card) for there to be a three-way deadlock for the second semis slot in Group 1.

I originally reported that should a this three-way deadlock occur, the league will go to the stats and determine which TWO teams will face off in a sudden-death tiff and which ONE team will be sent packing.

Today, league officials announced a twist: there will be no “paper elimination”—the term so colorfully used by league VIS chief Sherwin Malonzo.

“In the event of a three way tie in Group 1, a stepladder playoff will take place,” Malonzo explained in a phone conversation with me. “The two teams with the lowest rank (in terms of points or quotient) will have a playoff on Sunday (May 11th). The winner of that will go up against the top ranked team (in terms of points or quotient) for that last semifinals seat.”

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Therefore, IF (and I used capital letters so that all may be reminded of the conditional nature of this scenario) UST beats the Lady Falcons on Thursday, the league will tabulate anew and determine the positions on the stepladder.

IF the Tigresses beat Adamson in less than five sets, the Lady Falcons get zero points for that contest and will end its quarterfinal campaign with three points. Ateneo has four points—their five set loss to Davao merited them one point. Davao has only two points. If the scenario takes this route, the Katipuneras will be the “waiting” team due to their superior point total against the other two squads it is tied with, hence Adamson and Davao will play for a second time—this time with elimination imminent for the losing team. The victor of that encounter will face a well rested Ateneo for the final slot in the semis.

BUT WAIT…

IF UST defeats the Lady Falcons but in five sets, Adamson will also have four points and will have to go into a quarterfinal quotient war against the Lady Eagles. As of now, the Lady Falcons have a superior quotient over Ateneo (1.129 to 0.918). If this holds up, it will Adamson assuming the role of “waiting” team and it will be the battle of the Eagles/Agilas again this coming Sunday.

BUT WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

These two scenarios will be moot and academic IF Adamson defeats the Tigresses on Thursday.

Another triumph by the Lady Falcons will give them a 2-1 record and tie them with their victims, and since they may end up having the same point total (6 points), the second level tiebreak will employed which is “Win Over The Other” where the Lady Falcons will suddenly emerge as the top team from the Group and may avoid a semis match-up against the defending queens of the league.

On the other side of the coin, if Adamson will need five sets to beat UST (as some sectors foresee) then the Tigresses will still top the group and the Lady Falcons will move on as the second ranked squad.

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Regardless, an Adamson win will eliminate both Davao and Ateneo and Sunday could mark the start of the Best-Of-Three crossover semis.

The questions arise: can Adamson beat UST? Of course they can. They did it in the recently concluded UAAP Season 76. The Tigresses have been reinforced by veteran setter Rhea Dimaculangan and rookie sensation Ennajie Laure. The Lady Falcons have been beefed up by Saengmuang and Soriano. It sounds like a coin flip to me.

It will be a matter of desire now.

You can guarantee that there will be a hoard of Ateneo and Davao fans trooping to the venue to root for the Tigresses. They want to see a stepladder, if only to have their beloved teams resurrect.

And if that stepladder does happen, Ateneo will be down perhaps its best defender for good.

An official who part of the Lady Eagles’ brain trust has informed me that all-world libero Den-Den Lazaro will be OUT for the remainder of the conference to rested her ailing and unrecovered left ankle injury. Lazaro will now officially join Ana Gopico and Ella de Jesus as DNP-INJs.

Ateneo will not be getting a new guest player as well (this dispels rumors of the Lady Eagles allegedly bringing in national team libero Jheck Dionela), but will be reactivating incoming regular Rissa Sato, who saw action briefly at the start of the season.

“I choose to rest her,” the influential team official, who requested anonymity, said in a phone conversation. “She hasn’t fully healed from the injury she got in the UAAP and her health is my primary concern. The players who played last Sunday (against UST) along with Sato will be our team, if we enter a playoff.”

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Lazaro’s loss will be a big blow to a Lady Eagles squad already reeling with ailments—even to some of its players who are still in the roster—especially as team captain Alyssa Valdez (shoulder, knee and ankle). Many OBF faithful have already put the team’s health on their minds and also wish for the Lady Eagles to rest. But there are still some who believe that a miracle is in the horizon—much like the one they experienced in copping the school’s first ever UAAP crown last March.

The volleyball gods will be watching with keen interest on Thursday and may intervene in a play or two, but that Adamson-UST tiff will definitely have ALL the volleyball fans watching. I won’t be broadcasting Thursday’s games, but I will be there to witness them live.

It’s times like these I feel blessed to just be able to waltz into The Arena and not worry about where I’ll getting my ticket or where I’ll be sitting (most likely between Noreen Go and Coach Mac Gepuela at the official’s table). But for those of you who have not purchased your tickets yet, I wouldn’t wanna be you right now.

So what do you think will happen next?

BOX SCORES:

Far Eastern University (2-1) def. Arellano University (1-2)—25-16, 25-15, 24-26, 25-15

FEU—Daquis 21, Gonzaga 20, Palma 14, Pons 11, Casugod 3, Papa 1, Dionela 1, Torres 1, Agno (L) 0, Simborio 0.

AU—Henson 11, Rosario 9, Prado 8, Sagun 7, Salamagos 4, Tubiera 3, Legacion 1, Galang (L) 0, Ibisa (L) 0, Cariño 0, Ticar 0, de la Cruz 0, Oserio 0, Sierra 0.

Adamson University (1-1) def. Davao Lady Agilas (1-2)—25-15, 25-23, 25-15

AdU—Pineda 14, Saengmuang 13, Paat 8, Soriano 7, Cortel 5, Villanueva 4, Macatuno 1, Galanza 1, Tempiatura (L) 0, Listana (L) 0, Emnas 0, Lebumfacil 0.

DLA—Agton 8, Antipuesto 8, Flores 8, Tapic 8, Oliveros 7, Raterta 1, Berte 1, Dignadice (L) 0, Concepcion 0, Balse 0.

Follow Noel Zarate on Twitter (@NoelZarate) and email sportztackle@yahoo.com