Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws and Lady Tamaraws ended the second day with two combined victories and a loss in the beach volleyball tournaments of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 yesterday, November 18, at the Mall of Asia Beach Volleyball Sandcourt in Pasay City.

FEU’s men's beach volley started their match against the España-based squad with a tight battle in the sands, retaliating against each other's offense.

When team captain Vincent Nadera pressured the defense of UST from the service line, the Tamaraws successfully possessed a five-point lead. 

However, the Nadera-Javelona tandem produced six combined service errors, which made them collapse and lose the first set.

During the second set, the Tiger Sands brought their first-set ending momentum to pressure the Tamaraws in scoring.

FEU’s beach volleyball rookie, JJ Javelona, was the target of UST’s service throughout the set which refrained Nadera from playing his offense.

Javelona’s scoring output was not enough to tie the match, ending the match 19-21, 15-21.

In a post-game interview with FEU Advocate, Nadera mentioned that their tight first-set loss serves as their confidence booster against the defending champions.

“Dagdag confidence pa rin samin ‘yun as a team kasi champion team ‘yung nakalaban namin. Given na malakas talaga sila pero kagaya ng sabi ni coach kaya naman pala namin since lumamang kami (We need to increase our confidence because we faced the champion. Coach even said that we were capable of taking the lead even though they’re strong),” he said.

Rookie Javelona added that they need to be composed in order to successfully end strong and win a set.

“Need lang din namin mas maging composed always sa game para hindi kami mawala at mapabayaan 'yung lamang namin katulad nung first set (We just need to always be more composed in the game so that we don't lose and neglect what we have like in the first set),” he added.

In a later game, the Lady Tamaraws started their match against the Lady Warriors in a neck-and-neck battle as both teams showed consistent volleyball.

During the first court switch of the game, neither of the teams had yet to snatch the momentum, leading to a deadlock of 7-7.

With extensive court vision to play their defense, the Morayta volleybelles delivered numerous aces and attacks to dominate the set, 21-12.

The Petallo-Pons tandem took advantage of their momentum to begin the second set with a successful 6-0 run.

The Lady Tamaraws kept the pressure up throughout the whole set to prevent the Recto-based squad from catching the lead, dominating the match with a historic 3-0 win-loss record.

During a post-game interview with FEU Advocate, Gerzel Petallo emphasized how they learn from their past games to win the next ones. 

“Dapat po every game, may natutuhan kami, hindi lang ‘yung basta-basta lang na laro gano’n. Syempre, tine-take namin ‘yon as achievement para sa next game namin (Every game, we should have something to learn, not just playing for playing’s sake. Of course, we take those as achievements for our next games),” she said.

Petallo added how proud they are of their impressive achievement despite struggling to get there.

“It’s an honor na naging ganito ‘yung result ng pinaghihirapan namin since sobrang hectic din talaga ng schedule namin tapos sobrang hard ng training. Nailabas namin lahat tapos na-break pa namin ‘yung history so sobrang happy talaga and sana madala pa namin ‘to sa next games namin (It’s an honor that this became the result of our work because our schedule was very hectic and the training was very hard. We were able to unleash all of it and we even broke history so we are really very happy and hopefully, we can bring this to our next games),” she added.

Meanwhile, the FEU men’s beach volley team traded attacks with UE while committing errors, making both teams unable to pull away at the beginning of their second match of the day, resulting in a deadlock early on, 5-5.

A Javelona block turned the tide of the match to FEU’s side, sparking a 6-0 run to take control of the game.

The Tamaraws maintained their composure until the end of the set, delivering kills and capitalizing on UE’s errors and shaky defense, blowing them out with a 16-3 run.

The start of the second set mirrored the first with another deadlock, 9-9, with both squads keeping up with each other.

Fortunately, the Nadera-Javelano tandem managed to find the holes on UE’s defense once again, taking the front seat of the match, 17-11.

The Red Warriors attempted to mount a comeback, but the green-and-gold squad remained unfazed with their consistent offense, ending the match, 21-15.

In a post-game interview with FEU Advocate, Vincent Nadera mentioned that their mindset entering the match is to grab their first win in the tournament. 

“‘Yung mindset namin, nagsimula kami sa motivation namin, sa baho at talo namin, na naging parang learning siya para sa min para mapunan ‘yung mga kailangan naming gawin. Isa pa do’n ‘yung preparation din namin as a team. ‘Yung sistema namin, hindi pa rin namin iniba kung pa’no kami maglaro although talo no’ng mga nakaraan. Naglaro pa rin kung pa’no ‘yung A game namin. Ginawa lang din namin ‘yung part namin as players. (For our mindset, we started with our motivation, our shortcomings and losses, which became learnings for us to accomplish what we need to do. Another one is our preparation as a team. Our system, we still did not change how we played although we lost in the past games. We still played our A game. We also just did our part as players.),” he said.

Nadera added that their main goal for the season is to reach the final four.

“Syempre para manalo kami, kuha kami every point, every set, every game. Although talo, ‘yung first goal namin, makapasok muna sa final four, no matter what happens sa standing namin kasi hindi naman natin hawak ‘yung laro eh. (Of course, to win, we try to get every point, every set, every game. Although we lose, our first goal is to enter the final four no matter what happens to our standing because we do not hold the game),” he added.

The Javelona-Nadera tandem now stands with a 1-2 win-loss record and aims to add more victory as they go up against UP, while the Lady Tams improved their standing with a 3-0 win-loss record and will attempt to continue their winning streak against DLSU on November 19 at the same venue.

-Leiniel Santos and Vince Matthew Jaramilla

(Photo by Zedrich Xylak Madrid/FEU Advocate)