Story by Michelle Co
The University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons weakened its grip for a Final Four spot as they suffered a heartbreaking four-set loss, 25-21, 19-25, 25-23, 25-22 against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws on Saturday,at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Despite huge efforts from Captain Tots Carlos and Justine Dorog with 22 points and 15 points respectively, the Lady Maroons fell victim to an efficient FEU attack behind Heather Guino-o and Jerrili Malabanan.
With only three games left, this leaves UP at fifth, with a 6-5 record, a full game behind UST and FEU who are tied for third place at 7-4.
The match started out shaky as the two teams traded points back and forth until FEU started to pull away with errors from UP to establish an eight-point lead at 14-22 and never looked back.
The Lady Maroons improved in the second as attacks from Marian Buitre and Carlos put the team at an 11-5 advantage early on. It proved to be UP’s lone set as it ended at 25-19.
Building up from the momentum of the previous set, the third frame saw UP start strong but it did not last long as the Lady Tamaraws eventually stopped the Maroons’ comeback at its tracks to claim the third and fourth sets.
“It’s just one of those days that things don’t go the way you planned,” UP Head Coach Godfrey Okumu said during the post-game interview.
“I don’t blame the players, it’s just today, the opponents played better,” he added.
Meanwhile, the captain wants to put this game behind and focus on their next match against fellow Final Four foe UST.
“Syempre we’re sad na natalo kami sa FEU, but yun nga, ‘yung mindset namin is manalo so kailangan namin paghandaan ang UST,” Carlos said of their upcoming match against the Golden Tigresses on Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
But regardless of the loss against FEU, Coach Okumu remained hopeful and said, “I believe we can still and we will still bounce back, we will go back strong.”
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