MANILA, Philippines – The Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws emerged as the victors of the crucial game against the Adamson Lady Falcons on Saturday, April 7. 

The Lady Tamaraws finally clinched a Final 4 spot and will continue their bid for the twice-to-beat advantage over competitiors Ateneo and De La Salle University. The Lady Falcons, for their part, are still keeping their hopes up for a playoffs spot in the UAAP Season 80 Women’s Volleybal tournament. 

FEU proved to be hungrier for the win in Saturday’s game as they came back from two sets down to take down Adamson in the 5th set. 

For captain Bernadeth Pons, FEU’s 4th straight Final 4 appearance means so much to her being a graduating player of the team. However, the veteran is not yet satisfied in just being one of the top 4 teams of the UAAP. 

“Hindi, hindi lang talaga [satisfied for Final 4], lalo na sa akin na last year ko eh and last chance ko na rin kasi never pa kami nakapasok ng finals, (No, we’re really not satisfied with just the Final 4, especially for me, it’s my last year and it’s my last chance because we never made it to the finals),” Pons said.

“Pero siyempre gusto muna namin kunin yung twice-to-beat advantage kasi malaking bagay din siya team (But of course, we want to get the twice-to-beat advantage first because it’s a big thing for the team),” she added.

Pons recorded a statline of 22 points, 23 excellent digs, and 24 excellent receptions to lead the Lady Tamaraws. 

This match will greatly help the Lady Tamaraws in their bid for the finals as the Lady Falcons edged them out in the second to gain momentum even though they were at set point. This challenge against a team who is also as motivated would help them become more aggressive in their remaining games in the season.

“Tiwala lang, effort pa. Kailangan pa mas aggressive pa sa kalaban kasi ang kalaban namin kasi ‘yung desire nila gustong manalo, gumagawa sila ng paraan para manalo. ‘Yung team work and chemistry nila, mas pinapakita pa nila,” she said.

(Trust and more effort. We need to become more aggressive than our opponent because our oppenent, in their desire to win, they will do everything they can to win. They are displaying more of their team work and chemistry.) 

“Sobrang laking factor talaga para ma-build yung confidence ng team kasi ‘yung target namin is ‘yung number two kaya kailangan ‘yung [dalawang] natitirang game namin [galingan namin] para magka-chance kami makakuha ng number two na spot,” added Pons. 

(Building the confidence of the team is a huge factor because our target is number two, so in our last two games, we have to do our best in order to get the number two spot.) 

As the Lady Tamaraws will be facing the skidding University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors, they will make sure that they will not be blinded by this celebratory win. 

“Palagi naman kami na-reremind na ‘wag kami magfocus sa result, magfocus kami sa ano kailangan naming gawin, so magfocus kami sa kung ano ‘yung role namin, kung nasa loob kami ng court, maglaro kami ng kung ano yung kailangan ilaro, basta ‘yung result susunod na,” said Pons. 

(We are always reminded to not focus on the result, we should focus on what we should do. So we need to focus on what our role is. If we’re inside the court, we have to play the game that we should play and the result will follow.) 

The Lady Tamaraws will face UE on Wednesday, April 11, at the Filoil Flying V Centre. – Rappler.com