FEU gives St. Benilde free ride

MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern University thwarted Lyceum’s tough stand and pulled off a 25-22, 25-21, 28-26 victory to tow St. Benilde into the quarterfinal round of the Shakey’s V-League Season 6 at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

The Lady Tams battled back from 10 points down in the third set to complete the sweep, clinching the victory on Lyceum’s April Lualhati’s service error and Cherry Vivas’ ace.

The Lady Pirates, who needed to sweep their last two games to gain a playoff for the last quarters berth, took their sixth straight defeat and bowed out of contention, enabling St. Benilde to advance.

“It was a good win since they showed their determination, coming back from a big deficit,” said FEU coach Nes Pamilar whose Lady Tams closed out its elims campaign with an impressive 6-1 card.

Shaira Gonzalez and Vivas scored 18 hits each for FEU while Joy Cases made 19 points for Lyceum.

Earlier, newly-crowned Unigames champion University of Santo Tomas overpowered St. Benilde with a 25-14, 25-17, 25-17 romp to move within a win from sweeping the elims of the tournament sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and backed by Accel, Mikasa, Mighty Bond and OraCare.

Skipper and top hitter Aiza Maizo only showed up in the third set and knocked down one hit but the rest of the Tigresses got the job done early on and wrapped up the match in 1:03 for UST’s sixth straight victory.

Angeli Tabaquero took charge with 11 hits and rookie Maruja Banaticla continued to dish out fine form and scored 10 points, the same output put in by Judy Ann Caballejo as the Tigresses primed up for their highly-anticipated duel with the San Sebastian Lady Stags in the final elims playdate on Friday.

“After the Unigames, I told my players that they need to further raise the level of their game, especially in the quarterfinals where the rest will be going all out to beat us,” said UST coach Cesael delos Santos

St. Benilde drew nine points from team captain Giza Yumang while Katty Kwan and Kara Agero tossed in seven and five points, respectively, for the Lady Blazers, who closed out their elims assignment with a 2-5 card.

Rhea Dimaculangan also added nine points while Maika Ortizz contributed seven hits for UST, which is eyeing a sweep of the season’s twin crowns after beating San Sebastian in the first conference of the league organized by Sports Vision.