University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines go all-out today as they seek to finish off their respective rivals and set up a clash for the Premier Volleyball League Season 2 Collegiate Conference crown at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan.
The second seeded Tigresses reasserted their mastery over the No. 3 Far Eastern U Lady Tams, overcoming a first-set struggle before scoring a 16-25, 26-24, 25-18, 25-23 victory while the fourth-ranked Lady Maroons pulled off a 26-24, 19-25, 25-22, 25-20 reversal over the top seeded and erstwhile unbeaten Adamson Lady Falcons in the opener of their respective best-of-three semifinal series last Wednesday.
“The job isn’t done yet because we haven’t reached our goal – which is to become the champion,” said UST assistant mentor Yani Fernandez. “Why would you be satisfied with two wins (against FEU) in the elims and in Game One? Still, Game Two is Game Two.”
That should make the Tigresses fiercer as they gun for the clincher in their 2 p.m. encounter with the Lady Tams also expected to come into the match with key adjustments in a bid to neutralize their rivals’ strength and force a rubber match.
For one, Heather Guino-o is raring to make up for her service miscue that stymied the Lady Tams’ fiery comeback in the stretch of the fourth set that saw them save four match points before eventually yielding the set and the game.
Celine Domingo, Jerrili Malabanan, Kyle Negrito and Lycha Ebon also vowed to step up and measure up against UST’s fancied combination of Eya Laure, Milena Alessandrini, Ysabel Jimenez and Tin Francisco.
The Lady Falcons are also tipped to recall the form that netted them a sweep of the elims of the mid-season conference of the league organized by Sports Vision with coach Air Padda expecting to draw the best from Joy Dacoron, who struggled for just eight points the last time out, Eli Soyud and Bernadette Flora and likewise foil the Lady Maroons’ bid to sweep them.
Gametime is at 4 p.m.
Both matches can be viewed via streaming on www.abs-cbn.com/livestream/pvl.
Meanwhile, National U battles FEU at 9 a.m. while UST tangles with Adamson at 11 a.m. as semifinal action kicks off in the men’s side of the league backed by Mikasa and Asics.