MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U pounced on an off-form Adamson side and came away with a straight-set 25-22, 25-21, 25-17 victory to assure itself of a playoff for a quarterfinal berth in the Shakey’s V-League at the Blue Eagle gym yesterday.
Maica Morada fired 14 hits while Shaira Gonzales tossed in 10 points for the Lady Tams, who disposed of the defending champions in one hour and 12 minutes in a match expected to go down-to-the-wire.
But the Lady Tams buckled down to work early and neutralized AdU’s hitters with a fine defensive job and court coverage to catch the idle San Sebastian spikers in second with a 4-1 mark in the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.
Three-time champion University of Santo Tomas advanced to the next round ahead of everybody else with a 5-1 card.
“We were able to control Adamson’s top hitters with our blocking,” said FEU coach Nes Pamilar.
Rachel Ann Daquis and guest player Mayette Carolino combined for 17 hits while Cherry Vivas added seven for FEU, which faces SSC in an explosive duel tomorrow.
Adamson, led by Angela Benting’s 11 points, slid to 3-2 for joint fourth with a resurgent Ateneo-OraCare side.
Ateneo-OraCare, with Thai import Keawbundit Sontaya firing 19 hits and Charo Soriano adding 11 points, blasted UP, 25-12, 25-16, 25-15, to remain in the hunt for a playoff for the last quarterfinal berth with a 4-2 card.
UP fell to 0-6.
The tournament is organized by Sports Vision and backed by Accel, Mikasa and OraCare.
Details: www.v-league.ph.