MANILA, Philippines — University of Santo Tomas climbed out of a deep hole in the second set on its way to a 25-19, 28-26, 25-23 victory over defending champion National University in the UAAP Season 77 men’s volleyball tournament Sunday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
UST players work on their game ahead of a crucial tiff against defending champion NU on Sunday. The Tigers won in straight sets. Mark Giongco/INQUIRER.net
MVP candidate Mark Alfafara had an efficient offensive performance — scoring a game-high 18 points on just 34 tries — to power the Growling Tigers to their sixth victory in eight games.
The Tigers relied on Alfafara when they needed a closer and he delivered. The graduating spiker completed the rally from six points down in the second set with a thunderous hit and he punched in the match point as well.
“You saw the players’ determination. They really wanted to win the championship,” said UST head coach Odjie Mamon. “Every game counts especially with no team on its way to sweeping the elimination round. This is a big game and a big win for us.”
“This is a big achievement for us,” said Alfafara as he helped his team avenge a heartbreaking defeat to NU in the first round.
UST has not been in the Final Four in two years and they haven’t been this close to returning in the semifinals being just half a game behind league-leaders NU and Adamson, who remain tied with identical 7-2 records.
The Falcons also lost in straight sets to the Ateneo Blue Eagles, who tote a 6-2 card as well, earlier.
Rookie setter Timothy Tajanlangit had his best game so far in his young collegiate career with 24 excellent sets.
“They (NU) were able to check where our attacks were coming from in the second set so I put Timmy (Tajanlangit) in and it changed our flow,” Mamon said in Filipino.
The Bulldogs, who are eyeing a third straight title, survived three set points in the second set but couldn’t hold on further as the Tigers kept coming with their offense and blocking clicking.
Rueben Inaudito and Peter Torres had eight points each for NU but both struggled to get through UST’s defense consistently.
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