Jason Sarabia (18) and Timothy Tajanlangit (9) of UST against Jan Paglinawan (14) of NU. (photo by: NONOY LACZA)
MANILA, Philippines—Twice-to-beat disadvantage? No problem.
Turning back the power, National University put down University of Santo Tomas 25-18, 25-23, 25-23, to dig themselves out of their handicap on Saturday afternoon at Smart Araneta Coliseum and barge their way to the finals of the UAAP Season 77 men’s volleyball tournament.
It was a sorry spell of mistakes from the second-seeded Tiger Spikers, who squandered a twice-to-beat advantage that allowed the Bulldogs to secure their Finals seat.
Tigers captain Romnick Rico was the first to blunder with his service going long that gave NU the match point, 24-22, and premier attacker Mark Alfafara couldn’t salvage a set for UST as his tap went wide.
Alfafara, though, gave UST a 23-24 glimmer of hope with a cross court kill but his ensuing error in third set wasn’t what the Tiger Spikers needed.
Bulldogs head coach Dante Alinsunurin said his team’s game were really on point and they proved what defending champions can do.
“Our game was really present there,” Alinsunurin said. “Our confidence is very high; we aren’t panicking when we commit errors.”
He added that he immediately felt that they will win in straight sets after their 25-18 first set win.
“When we won on the first set, I thought ‘we can do this in straight sets,'” Alinsunurin said.
NU had a three-point lead, 20-17, in the third set but back-to-back errors and a combo block on Ruben Baysac courtesy of Rico and Jeren Buro tied it at 20-20.
Peter Torres led NU in the scoring department with 13 points with Reuben Inaudito and Edwin Tolentino adding 12 apiece while Jan Paglinawan pitched in 11.
Alfafara led UST with 17 points with Rico adding 14.
UST weren’t that accurate on the field giving away 22 points in errors.