Tiger Spikers survive FEU in five sets, maintain clean slate
Ernest Martin Tuazon
The UST Tiger Spikers (2–0) bagged their second consecutive win in the UAAP Season 85 men’s volleyball tournament with a five-set survival over the FEU Tamaraws, 28–30, 25–17, 22–25, 25–16, 15–8, Wednesday evening, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.
It was UST’s Jay De La Noche, Josh Ybanez, and Rey De Vega who combined for 10 of the Tiger Spikers’ 15 points in the deciding set en route to win no. 2.
The trio converged for 60 of the University’s 115 points with De La Noche’s 24, Ybanez’s 20, and De Vega’s 16, respectively.
Down 1–2 in set count, UST dug deep in their bag to force a decider behind a late 8–2 run in the fourth set to steal away FEU’s momentum, 25–16.
After giving away the opening set, super rookie Ybanez scored four of the last six Tiger Spiker points to knot the match at 1, 25–17.
Miscommunication between the setters and attackers of the Tiger Spikers caused the University to give away the third set to the Morayta-based squad, 22–25.
A late 7–2 UST spurt to knot the score at 24-all in the first set went for naught as two crucial errors by De Vega and Ybanez gave FEU its much-needed cushion, 28–30.
Errors continued to plague the Tiger Spikers where in the fifth set, five of FEU’s eight markers came from service and attack miscues, respectively.
Overall, UST gave away 42 errors compared to the Tamaraws’ 32 miscues.
The Tiger Spikers will look to maintain a clean slate as it clashes with the defending champions NU Bulldogs on Saturday, 4:00 p.m., at the Mall of Asia Arena.
