Lady Falcons rally to edge Tams

MANILA, Philippines - Sheila Marie Pineda and Thai import Pacharee Sangmuang went on an attacking spree as Adamson came back from two sets down to steal a dramatic 19-25, 22-25, 26-24, 25-15, 15-12 victory over Far Eastern U to inch closer to the finals of the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 First Conference before a big Sunday crowd at The Arena in San Juan.

The crisp-spiking duo of Pineda and Sangmuang combined for 43 hits, including 40 on kills, as the Lady Falcons completed an improbable comeback that saw them rebound from two sets down, snatch an extended, back-and-forth third frame before sweeping the last two.

“I kept telling my players not to give up and I’m just glad they responded to the challenge,” said Adamson coach Sherwin Meneses in Filipino after the Lady Falcons hacked out the win in two hours and five minutes for a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three semifinal series of the season-opening conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

Defending champion National U subdued University of Santo Tomas, 25-20, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22, to likewise take the headstart in their side of the semis playoff.

Dindin Santiago rammed in 19 hits while sister Jaja and Myla Pablo tossed in 14 markers each and Carmin Aganon added 13 points as the Lady Bulldogs repeated over the Tigresses, whom they also beat in five in their group stages faceoff.

The six-time champion Tigresses actually produced more spikes, 53-51, but the Lady Bulldogs more than made up for this with 15 blocks, including five from Jaja and four from Rizza Mandapat, as against the Espana-based squad’s 10. NU also came through with seven aces, five more than UST.

Pam Lastimosa led UST with 20 hits while rookie ace Ennajie Laure made 16 points and Jessey de Leon added 11 markers.

It was actually an expected thriller of a finish despite FEU seizing control early as Adamson, which topped Group I with a sweep of its last two matches in the quarters, proved up to the task and flashed its never-say-die spirit to frustrate the Morayta-based squad and move closer to its first finals since losing to Ateneo in Season 8 in 2011.