Shakey’s V-League: FEU rolls back NCAA champs

MANILA, Philippines –Bernadette Pons struck hardest in the last two sets as Far Eastern U rallied past reigning NCAA champion Perpetual Help, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18, 25-21, Sunday night to close in on a quarterfinal berth in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 First Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Pons wound up with 20  hits, joining forces with Mary Joy Palma and libero Christine Agno to overhaul the early deficit before cruising to their second win in four games.

More importantly, the win boosted the Lady Tamaraws’ hopes of reaching the quarterfinals, while inflicting more misery on a Perpetual Help squad that suffered a third straight loss.

“We had a bad start but  we kept our composure and played strong in the next three sets,” said FEU coach Shaq delos Santos.

Pons and Palma kept the Lady Altas’ defense guessing with a variety of off speed spikes and quick combinations. Perpetual Help’s shaky defense saw the Lady Altas save just 38 out of 223 dig attempts.

The Lady Tamaraws nearly wasted a nine-point cushion in the fourth set, allowing the Lady Altas to close in at 20-23, before Palma unleashed back-to-back kills to seal the victory.

The Lady Altas missed coach Sammy Acaylar who is with the national team in Thailand.

The Lady Tamaraws also drew solid efforts from Faith Torres who fired eight hits and guest player Toni Rose Basas and Marie Simborio  who combined for 14 spikes.

University of Santo Tomas and San Sebastian, both toting 1-1 records, were playing for the No. 2 spot in Group B at presstime.

Perpetual Help actually charged back from a 10-19 deficit in the fourth by racking up 10 of the next 14 points to close within, 20-23. But Palma unleashed a pair of kills to quash the Las Piñas-based squad’s last-ditch rally.