Far Eastern University celebrated head coach Tina Salak’s birthday with a resounding, 25-12, 27-25, 25-15, victory over Letran on Saturday in the Shakey’s Super League Collegiate Pre-season Championship at the Rizal Memorial Coliseum.
The Lady Tamaraws closed their Pool D campaign with a 2-1 win-loss record that boosted their bid for a spot in the next round.
Rookie Barbie Jamili finished with 14 points while Jean Asis scattered 10 spikes and a kill block for 11 markers to lead FEU, which rebounded from a five-set defeat at the hands of De La Salle University last week.
Meanwhile, Lyceum of the Philippines University blasted Emilio Aguinaldo College, 25-23, 25-18, 22-25, 25-21, to open its Pool B campaign on a high note.
Joan Doguna powered the Lady Pirates with 15 points off 11 attacks, two aces, and two kill blocks. Johna Dolorito had 14 markers while Janeth Tulang and Venice Puzon got 12 and 10 points, respectively, for LPU.
FEU survived a second set scare when the Lady Knights saved three set points before taking a 25-24 set-point advantage. Letran was called for a net violation in the next play to force a deuce.
Alyzza Devosora put the Lady Tams back on top with a through-the-block hit before Chenie Tagaod closed the frame with an off-the-block spike.
It was all FEU in the third set.
“The team is very young, and it showed in the second set how our players were rattled by the crowd while Letran was making a run. But we motivated them by giving them our full trust,” Salak said.
The Lady Tams will have to wait for other match results in Pool D to determine if they will secure one of the two spots in the next round.
The top two teams in each pool will advance to the next round where they will be divided into two groups for another round of round-robin play to determine their place in the knockout quarterfinals.
Both the semifinal and final are also knockout games.
