ADAMSON achieved its best elimination round record in 15 years following a 25-22, 26-28, 25-15, 25-17 win over Far Eastern University, a needed confidence booster heading into the UAAP women’s volleyball Final Four yesterday at the Filoil EcoOil Centre.

Kate Santiago had 21 points, rookie Trisha Tubu had three blocks to finish with 18 points while setter Louie Romero tossed in 21 excellent sets and fired two service aces for the Lady Falcons.

Logging its first 10-win campaign since 2007-08 season when it finished at 12-2 and made all the way to the Finals, Adamson will play twice-to-beat National University in the Final Four as the third-ranked team on Wednesday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

“Opportunity ito for greatness. Yung mga kalaban namin nakakakuha naman tayo ng set or two so ibig sabihin puwede, ibig sabihin may chance. Anytime na may chance na pwedeng ilaban, laro lang, laban lang,” said first-year coach Jerry Yee as Adamson is bracing for its first Final Four appearance in nine years.

The other semis pairing pits elimination round topnotcher La Salle, which also has the twice-to-beat bonus, and No. 4 University of Santo Tomas.

The Lady Spikers and the Lady Bulldogs needed only to beat the Tigresses and the Lady Falcons, respectively, once to arrange a rematch of last season’s title series.

Later, Eya Laure came through with 28 points, including two blocks and 14 digs as UST also finished with a 10-4 record following a 25-21, 25-20, 22-25, 19-25, 15-6 victory over University of the Philippines.

Lorene Toring also had three blocks for a 13-point outing while Lucille Almonte produced an all-around outing of 10 points, 22 receptions and 16 digs for Adamson.

The Lady Falcons, who suffered a heartbreaking end to last year’s campaign after losing to a playoff for the No. 4 slot, hopes to go deeper this year with Yee at the helm.

In her last game for the Lady Tamaraws, Jov Fernandez had three service aces and two blocks to finish with 18 points, while Jean Asis added 13 points, including five blocks.

Alyzza Devasora had 11 points and 10 receptions, fellow rookie Gerzel Petallo also scored 11 points while playmaker Tin Ubaldo had team-best four blocks, 15 digs and 11 receptions.

The Lady Tamaraws ended their first season under coach Tina Salak with a 6-8 record, a major turnaround from last season’s one-year campaign.

In the men’s division, FEU completed the Final Four cast following a 25-22, 25-14, 26-24 victory over also-ran Adamson.

Regina Jurado was solid in the service zone, producing two of three aces in the deciding set that allowed the Tigresses to pull away to finish with 15 points while Imee Hernandez and Renee Peñafiel added 14 and 11 points, respectively.

The Fighting Maroons, who drew 17 points from Niña Ytang, finished coach Shaq delos Santos’ first season with a 1-13 record in seventh place.

Mark Calado was in the zone with 23-of-31 spikes and had two blocks to finish with 25 points to go with nine receptions and eight digs for the Tamaraws, who won back-to-back matches to finish the season at 8-6.

FEU will face La Salle, which ended a 10-year Final Four drought after clipping University of the East, 25-16, 23-25, 25-13, 25-22, Saturday night in the first step-ladder on Wednesday at the Big Dome. The winner will take on No. 2 University of Santo Tomas in another do-or-die match to determine the other finalist.

Three-peat seeking National University jumped straight to the best-of-three Finals after completing a 14-match sweep of the eliminations.

The Tamaraws and the Green Spikers last faced in the Final Four in 2013, the year that Taft-based squad last made it past the elims.

“Babaunin namin yung lessons na nakuha namin, ang dami namin from down tiniyaga namin pataas. Siguro yun ang una naming gagawin kung paano kami nakabalik, babaunin namin yung eagerness sa laban sa La Salle,” said FEU coach Rei Diaz.

The Falcons ended their first season under coach George Pascua with a 2-12 record.