Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws Head Coach Reynaldo Diaz Jr. expressed the urgency for the team to mature if they hope to stay afloat in the final four picture of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85 men’s volleyball tournament.

“Maturity kasi ang kulang sa atin. Mahirap din mag dahilan kasi lahat naman ng team may shortcomings at lapses. Pero ang maturity syempre kailangan ng experience,eh this is it, ito na ang experience. We hope mag evolve nang mas early ‘yung boys (We lack maturity. It’s hard to make excuses because all teams have shortcomings and lapses. But of course, maturity requires experience, and this is the experience we need. We just hope the boys evolve earlier),” he said.

The Tams came after a crushing five-set loss against the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, 25-19, 18-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-10, with an error-prone game which prevented them from gaining momentum and securing the victory.

During the first set, FEU was firing on all cylinders with green-and-gold spiker Mark Calado scoring six markers followed by Martin Bugaoan’s five points. 

The Morayta spikers won the set, 25-19, but three of UE’s first four points were off-service errors that came off as a sign of things to come in this match.

More problems arose for the Morayta-based squad as they were stumped by UE’s stellar defense failing to thread the needle on the offensive end as they lost the second set, 18–25.

FEU’s Calado and rookie Dryx Saavedra then came alive, scoring six and five markers respectively as the team crawled out of the close third set victorious, 25-23. 

The Jelord Talisayan-led squad struggled to keep composure as they lost the fourth and fifth sets, capped off by a Bryce De Guzman receive error which gave the Tams their second straight loss in the second round of eliminations.

Coach Diaz also shared that their training resumes despite the week-long religious occasion, but ample time for the players will be given to do any customary religious activities.

“Tuloy naman ‘yung training namin, tapos may nilaan kaming time to respect ‘yung mga religion ng bawat member ng team namin, so tuloy lang ensayo namin ngayong Holy Week (Our training continues, but we have allotted time to respect the religious practices of every member of our team. So, our training continues this Holy Week),” he added.

Calado poured a total of 23 points, while Saavedra and Bugaoan finished with 14 and 11 markers, respectively, as FEU now has a 6-4 win-loss record and will regroup to face National University Bulldogs on April 16 at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City.

-Andrei Barrantes

(Photo courtesy of The UAAP)