UP, FEU facing off in V-League Collegiate finals

University of the Philippines Lady Maroons’ Roselyn Rosier celebrates with Marianne Sotomil after scoring a point against Adamson University Lady Falcons. TIEBREAKER TIMES

MANILA – University of the Philippines Lady Maroons clinched a seat to the finals of the 2018 Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference after taking down Adamson Lady Falcons 25-19, 29-27, 20-25, 25-20 on Sunday at the San Juan Arena.

Maria Lina Isabel Molde led the way with 27 points, on 23 attacks and four blocks, while Marian Buitre chipped in 19 markers for UP, which finished off the erstwhile unbeaten Adamson in the best-of-three semifinals series 2-1.

Meanwhile Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws clinched the other finals seat after a 19-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-17 win over University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses.

Jerrilli Malabanan led the way with 13 points while rookie Lycha Ebon and Kyle Negrito added 12 points apiece for FEU. Ejiya Laure finished with 15 markers for UST.

UP started strong in the first set as it built a 16-10 advantage on consecutive points by Molde. Adamson attempted to claw its way back but the Lady Maroons got answers to close out the set.

Sustaining its torrid offense in the second set, UP made an 8-1 start but this was not enough, as the Lady Falcons rallied back to force a deadlock. Roselyn Rosier came to UP’s rescue with two straight hits.

UP recovered from several runs by the Lady Falcons in the fourth set and made a slim 17-16 lead before slowly pulling away 22-19. Adamson then committed back-to-back errors to hand the win to the Lady Maroons.

“In our Game 2 loss, I noticed that the players were pressured (to win). I told them not to think about it and it worked,” said UP head coach Godfrey Okumu. “It was not about skills, it was not about how fast our team works, but it [was about] mental strength.”

Christine Joy Soyud finished with 15 points while Lea Perez and Chiara Permentilla added 14 and 12 points, respectively, for Adamson, which saw its impressive 8-0 elimination round slate down the drain with two losses to UP./PN

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