STAMPEDING LADY TAMS
Unfazed in battling an opponent it hasn’t beaten all season long, Far Eastern University played with the biggest weapon it had, the belief in itself, to get to fight another day in the Final Four of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament.
A 25-23, 25-17, 25-23 bamboozling of No. 1 ranked National University (NU) on Saturday at Smart Araneta Coliseum could have also turned the psychological advantage in their favor as the Lady Tamaraws took the best that the Lady Bulldogs could dish out and still won with plenty to spare.
“[The Lady Tams] really wanted this, they believed that they can beat NU,” coach Manolo Refugia said in Filipino shortly after the stunning sweep that inched them closer to a Finals appearance for the first time in five years.
Chenie Tagaod was a big reason for that after logging 12 points from 10 attacks, a block and an ace as she took as inspiration, apart from their losses to the Lady Bulldogs in the eliminations, another David and Goliath story in Choco Mucho’s first-ever franchise victory against Creamline in the Premier Volleyball League.
Awoken by Sisi
“I was woken up by what Sisi Rondina (from Choco Mucho) said after they also lost against Creamline in the elimination but they were victorious in the semifinals,” Tagaod said in Filipino. “That’s where I held on and my trust to my teammates, coaches, management and the system that we have.”After falling short in both of their matches against the Lady Bulldogs in the elimination round, the Lady Tamaraws also snapped a seven-game winning streak by the Lady Bulldogs.
Jean Asis backstopped Tagaod, who also had 10 excellent receptions, with 11 points built on nine attacks and a pair of aces while Mitzi Panangin contributed 10 points, four of which came from her leadership of Far Eastern’s net defense.
With its last championship coming 16 seasons ago, Far Eastern, now has a fifty-fifty chance at a championship series appearance when the decider is played on Wednesday also at the Big Dome.
“We are super eager to enter the Finals … what happened to our Season 84 became my motivation to reach this far,” said setter Tin Ubaldo, who was part of the Far Eastern crew that finished dead last that season. “Looking back, we won’t let that happen again.”
“I don’t want to feel being that down again,” Tagaod said.In the other semifinal pairing, the defending champion La Salle Lady Spikers will look for a similar result when they battle the Golden Tigresses who are also armed with a twice-to-beat incentive, on Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.
Ubaldo held the Far Eastern offense together with a total of 16 excellent sets, the last of which coming Faida Bakanke’s way that sealed the deal.
“After our loss to NU in the elimination, the next day we moved on and then put in our minds that every game, every practice, we need to be at 100 percent and all out and then we worked on what our lapses were,” Tagaod said. INQ
