Mary Ann Manalo, a 22-year-old Angeles City, Pampanga native, took charge for FEU by firing away 26 hits, including 24 kills, as the Lady Tams booked their fourth win in six outings to join the La Salle Lady Archers and Adamson Lady Falcons in the next round.
La Salle, which is seeking a three-peat, is currently unbeaten with five wins while Adamson is at second spot with a 4-1 (win-loss) slate in the event presented by Shakey’s Pizza and organized by Sports Vision.
"I’m happy that we made it through the semifinals," said FEU coach Florentino "Kit" Santos, who steered the Morayta-based school to the University Games title last year, in Filipino.
PCU, which came out strong in the first set only to falter in the next three, had a chance to force a deciding fifth set after it led by three points thrice in the fourth set. But Manalo went on an attacking mode again and the Lady Dolphins failed to defend their fort and fall to their third loss against the same number of wins in the tournament backed by Accel, Mikasa, ABC-5 and ABC Sports.
PCU, however, hopes to make it through in the semis just the same when it takes on the Lyceum Lady Pirates (2-3) on Saturday.
Games are telecast every Monday, Tuesday and Thursday starting at 4:30 p.m. on ABC-5.
The top five teams after the single-round elimination will advance to the double-round, carry-over semis with the top two teams battling for the title in a best-of-three series.
Drawing strength from Brenda Lopez and Arlene Bernardo, PCU pounced on FEU’s sluggish, erratic start to pound out the victory in the opening set.
But the Lady Tams toughened up on their defense, both up front and at the backline, while leaning on Manalo’s superb power game to seize control in the next two frames.
For a while, the Lady Dolphins appeared to have neutralized Manalo as they led by three points three times, the last at 11-8, before the wiry but power-hitting FEU skipper rediscovered her rhythm and ripped her shots through PCU’s defense to seal the victory for the Morayta-based spikers.