Baby Tamaraws notch first win at UST’s expense
By Ernest Tuazon
The UST Junior Golden Tigresses (1–2) handed the FEU Baby Tamaraws’ first win in the UAAP Season 85 high school girls volleyball tournament with a four-set defeat, 25–21, 14–25, 28–30, 22–25, Saturday morning, at the Paco Arena in Manila.
Once trailing by in the third set’s extended period, 25–26, UST took advantage of the Baby Tams’ service error and double violation to overtake the lead, 27–26.
However, two crucial misfires by Junior Golden Tigresses’ Lipat and Arasan plagued the University as FEU took control of the match with a 28–30 finish to a long third set.
A downhill start to the second set paved the way for the Baby Tamaraws to knot the match at 1-all after a 9–0 blast to take a 3–12 advantage early, marked by four service aces by FEU’s open hitter Elizza Alimen.
The Junior Golden Tigresses then trimmed an 11-point advantage to just six with a 6–0 blast, 13–19, but the Baby Tamaraws eventually closed out the second set with a 5–1 response.
UST won the opening set with a 25–21 romp of FEU, lifted by a 9–1 heist midway through where they tasted their biggest lead of the match with seven markers, 16–9.
The Junior Golden Tigresses will look to even out their win-loss record against the unblemished NSNU Bullpups on Monday, 2:00 p.m., at the same venue.
