Lady Falcons grab last Shakey’s Final 4 lot
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.
Article continues after this advertisementThai 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.
Article continues after this advertisementNational 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