Far Eastern University lived to fight another day, surviving a late fightback by No. 3 seed De La Salle University to carve out a 25-21, 19-25, 25-22, 25-22, victory in the first phase of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 85 men’s volleyball stepladder semifinals yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Mark Calado led the way but it was JJ Javelona who stepped up off the bench to deliver the crucial points at crunch time including the game-winning crosscourt kill that sent the Tamaraws into the next stage of the semis against No. 2 seed University of Santo Tomas.
FEU and UST will battle it out for the right to challenge three-peat-seeking National University in the best-of-three Finals in another sudden death affair on Sunday at the same venue.
Head coach Rei Diaz breathed a sigh of relief after pulling through with the win against the same team that beat the Tamaraws in five sets in their second round rematch.
“Congratulations to DLSU for a great game. They did well in this game. Congratulations also to all FEU players for a job well done, for executing what we practiced,” Diaz said of their opponent which made its first semis appearance since 2013.
Calado scattered 22 points including 20 kills while Jelord Talisayan and Dryx Saavadra finished with 12 markers each for FEU, which overcame La Salle’s solid net coverage where it tallied 15 kill blocks.
The Tamaraws engaged the Green Spikers in a shootout in the fourth set before shattering a 19-19 deadlock with back-to-back hits. A hit by Martin Bugaoan followed by La Salle’s error on Billie Anima’s wayward attack put FEU at match point, 24-21.
Noel Kampton saved a match point for the Green Spikers only for Javelona to score his last of four points off a perfect backset by Benny Martinez to end the two-hour, 12-minute showdown.
Kampton scored 16 of his 18 points for La Salle on kills and had seven digs, JM Ronquillo posted 17 markers while Anima on his last game wearing a Green Spikers jersey chipped in 14.
Nathaniel Del Pilar finished with 10 markers in a lost cause for La Salle.