St. Benilde’s Gayle Pascual tries to score off FEU’s Kiesha Bedonia during their V-League Collegiate Challenge eliminations duel last September 8.
V-League photo
FEU, St. Benilde collide in V-League
FAR Eastern University and College of Saint Benilde open their V-League Collegiate Challenge women’s championship series today at the Paco Arena.
Gametime is at 2 p.m.
The Lady Tamaraws had to go through some anxious moments before repulsing University of Perpetual Help System Dalta in three games in the semis while the Lady Blazers dominated University of the East in the other semis seried.
For setter Tin Ubaldo and the rest of the FEU squad, winning the V-League title will be a huge achievement, saying, “Malaking boost siya kasi may times na medyo hesistant kami, hindi kami naniniwalang kaya namin. Pero kapag nakuha namin itong title na ito, sasagi sa isip namin na kaya namin.”
Ubaldo will face a solid setter in Clo Mondoñedo, who has been the glue that kept Benilde together.
In the preliminaries, the Lady Tamaraws brushed off a second set defeat to turn back the Lady Blazers, 25-23, 19-25, 25-16, 25-22.
In the men’s Finals, La Salle and University of Santo Tomas seek to outhit and outsmart each other in chase of a big head-start in a short title series at 4 p.m.
The Green Spikers toppled the Golden Spikers, 26-28, 25-18, 28-26, 25-21, in their elims face-off but the Finals is an entirely different phase where emphasis could vary in every stretch of play, requiring each team, particularly the opposing coaches, to come up with ploys that could startle the other’s play patterns.
“Eliminations are eliminations; Finals are different. May aangat, may bababa, it’s a matter of mental game na lang talaga, because physically we are both ready. Andon na yung factor kung sino yung may mas gusto talaga,” said La Salle top outside hitter JM Ronquillo.
The Green Spikers battled back from one game down in the semis to stun fabled rivals Ateneo, while the Golden Spikers trounced FEU in their side of the semis playoff.
Meanwhile, Ateneo and FEU clash for the bronze in the men’s division at 10 a.m., while University of the East and Perpetual Help dispute third place honors in women’s play at 12 noon.
