Lady Falcons grab last Shakey’s Final 4 lot

AMANDA Villanueva of Adamson attacks the UST defense in yesterday’s game. AUGUST DELA CRUZ

MANILA, Philippines — Adamson grabbed the last Final Four berth and the top Group 1 spot after a huge upset of University of Santo Tomas in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 First Conference at Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

Under the radar most of the tournament, the Lady Falcons snapped the Tigresses’ five-game winning streak with a 25-18, 25-23, 25-27, 25-22 conquest  to crash  the top four on the last day of the quarterfinals while quashing the semifinal hopes of fancied teams Ateneo and Davao.

Thai reinforcement Pacharee Sangmuang fired a game-high 27 points, including three of the Lady Falcons’ last five hits in the match where the Tigresses came in as heavy favorites.

Adamson and UST wound up tied with 2-1 records, but the Lady Falcons clinched the top spot due to the winner-over-the-other rule.

The Lady Falcons will battle Far Eastern University, the Group 2 second seed, in the best-of-three semifinals starting this Sunday.

National University—which routed St. Benilde, 25-11, 25-14, 25-17, in the first game to complete a 3-0 quarterfinal sweep—will clash with the Tigresses in the other Final Four pairing.

The Tigresses, who stayed alived with a narrow 27-25 win in the third set  behind rookie Ennajie Laure, had threatened within a point, 19-20, in the fourth frame before Sangmuang took charge to seal it for the Lady Falcons.

Shiela Pineda, Pau Soriano and Mylene Paat finished with a combined 37 points for the Lady Falcons.

A loss by the Lady Falcons would have sent them to a stepladder playoff battle with UAAP champion Ateneo and Davao, the two early favorites after a splendid start to their campaigns. With a report from Vinz Luanne Lamorena