FEU survives UST for share of early lead

Photo from UAAP

MANILA, Philippines—Far Eastern University took a share of the early lead in the standings after overcoming University of Santo Tomas in a grueling five-setter, 25-21, 24-26, 20-25, 25-22, 15-12, in the UAAP Season 82 men’s volleyball tournament Sunday at Mall of Asia Arena.

The Tamaraws, who claimed the silver medal in Season 81, tied defending champion National University in first place with identical 2-0 cards while the Tiger Spikers dropped to the bottom with a 0-2 record.

“I felt the aura of the UST players that they want to grab this opportunity. They improved a lot and I almost felt that this was a lucky win for us,” said FEU coach Rey Diaz in Filipino.

“They checked each and every one of our moves and everything we gave looked simple to them.”

Jude Garcia finished with a game-high 27 points while John Paul Bugaoan and JJ Javelona put up 13 points apiece. Mark Calado added 12. Garcia gave FEU a 13-9 lead after UST pulled within two.

FEU zoomed to a 5-0 spread in the fifth set but had to weather a late UST storm to eke out the victory.

Joshua Umandal led the Tiger Spikers with 21 points while Jhun Senoron and Wewe Medina had 17 and 10 points, respectively.