Lady Tamaraws roll to 8th win of the season
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
Senior Reporter
THE Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws notched their eighth win in UAAP Season 81 in impressive fashion on Wednesday, beating the National University Lady Bulldogs in straight sets, 25-20, 25-19 and 25-22, in opening game action at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.
Dominated right from the start, the Lady Tamaraws did not allow the Lady Bulldogs to have their full bite as they booked the all-important win that put them at solo third place, as of this writing, with an 8-4 card with the elimination round of University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 81 hitting the homestretch.
The first two sets took a familiar route with FEU, led by veterans Heather Guino-o and Jerrili Malabanan, taking early control before NU would claw their way back.
Each time though the Lady Bulldogs would fall short as the Lady Tamaraws found ways to extricate themselves down the stretch to claim the set wins and go up 2-0 for the match.
In the third set, NU got to a competitive start with Aubrey Paran and Princess Robles showing the way.
They fought hard to trail just by two points, 8-6, by the first technical timeout, and, 16-12, midway.
The Lady Bulldogs kept the pressure on the Lady Tamaraws after, tying the count at 22-all.
Guino-o and the rest of the Lady Tamaraws though would not let their team falter some more as they racked up three straight points thereafter to book the victory.
Guino-o led FEU with 11 points, followed by Malabanan with 10.
For NU (3-9) it was Paran who top-scored with 11 points.
“We’re happy with the win. I just told the players to stay committed with our execution and we did. We are taking it a step at a time,” said FEU coach George Pascua, whose wards broke a tie with the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses (7-4), who were playing later yesterday, at joint third with the win.
“Hopefully we won’t lose anymore for the rest of the elimination round to help our Final Four push,” he added.
The two teams next play on Sunday, April 14, with FEU facing UST and NU taking on the University of the Philippines.
