UAAP: Bersola shines as UP dominates FEU

UP won.

 

The University of the Philippines women's voleyball team defeated Far Eastern University, 26-24 25-16 16-25 25-19, Sunday at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

 

“We are always telling the girls na marunong naman silang maglaro, ayaw lang nila, or they give up too easily,” said UP head coach Gerry Ye. “So may ma-realize naman nila na kahit FEU, we can still win against teams kahit papaano”.

 

This is only UP’s second victory in the season, the first coming off a three-set drubbing of the University of the East Lady Warriors last January 11, 2014. The Lady Maroons (2-11) now enjoy a full two-game advantage over the cellar-dwelling Lady Warriors (0-12).

 

The loss was costly for the Lady Tams (6-7), who are locked in an arms race with the Adamson University Lady Falcons for the last Final Four slot. The Lady Falcons (6-6) are set to go against the National University Lady Bulldogs (11-1) later in the afternoon. FEU takes a dip to fifth, awaiting a possible Adamson loss.

 

Rookie Kathy Bersola led the Maroon force with 20 points, 14 coming off attacks and six off blocks, while graduating player Angeli Araneta assisted with 15. Monica Ortiz chimed in with 12.

 

The Lady Tams built a six-point fort early in the set, 11-5, and kept leading by as much as five points, as Dawson, Pons, and Genevieve Casugod headed the frontline for FEU. UP managed to whittle the lead down to two points, before tying after an error by Casugod and two consecutive attacks by Bersola from the right, 18-18. An error by Casugod and an attack by Araneta drove a two-point wedge between both squads to make it 20-18 in favour of UP, which sent the Lady Falcons jumping for joy as they awaited their match against the Lady Bulldogs.

 

Despite all the jeering, Pons manifested her true grit late for FEU, carrying the load for her squad and scoring three points to tie the game at 24-all. Pons, however, committed an error which gave UP the lead at 25-24. Sheeka Espinosa finished the job for UP with an attack from the left, giving the Lady Maroons their first set win since January 11, 2014, with a 26-24 tally.

 

The Lady Maroons showed that the first set victory was no fluke, erecting a seven-point lead early in the second , 16-9, as FEU committed five unforced errors early. The Lady Tams managed to trim UP’s lead down to five points after the Maroons scrambled on defense, but FEU’s offensive woes continued, while a kill by Ortiz and a service ace by Espinosa brought the lead back up to seven, 22-15. This prompted Coach Shaq De Los Santos to press for time, but it did not yield any positive results for FEU as Bersola managed to block two of their attempts, and a hit from the left by Araneta put the Lady Maroons up two sets to love, 25-16.

 

Down two sets, FEU did a better job in covering Espinosa, Araneta, and Bersola, pitting Casugod and Dawson in the middle, and the Lady Tams managed to keep things at a draw, 8-8. The Green and Gold managed to break away by scoring five straight points and upping the lead to nine. Pons led the charge for the Tams by scoring four points in the last 10 possessions to give FEU the third set with a 25-16 victory.

 

UP led 7-4 early in the fourth set, but FEU put up resistance, tying the game at 8-8 and eventually snaring a two-point lead after consecutive attacks by Kyla Atienza from the left wing, 11-9. The Lady Tams suffered from defensive lapses, paving the way for a 6-0 UP rally, which featured three attacks from Araneta in the left wing. As Pons shifted to the left, FEU again cut into the lead, making it a two-point margin at 17-15, but errors marred a possible FEU comeback, aggravated by solid play from Bersola, as UP closed out its second win with a 25-19 drubbing in the fourth set.

 

UP almost had as much points off attacks as FEU (49-48), but immensely benefitted from the blocking and service department, which produced nine and four points for them respectively, as compared to FEU, who, as a unit, tallied four in both categories.

 

Bernadette Pons took the lion’s share of the scoring, tallying 22 points, 21 off attacks, as she was the only player to score in double figures for her squad. Casugod, Dawson, and Atienza all chipped in with seven apiece. - RAF, GMA News