By Vince Matthew Jaramilla

Despite extending another match to five sets, the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws lost the championship to the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs, 21-25, 25-23, 25-20, 19-25, 10-15, in the 2024 Shakey's Super League (SSL) National Invitationals finals earlier today, July 16, at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium in Manila City.

In a post-game interview with FEU Advocate, head coach Manolo Refugia expressed his joy for lessons learned by his players.

"Masaya naman kasi podium finish pa rin although we fell short pero ang bottomline is marami talaga [kaming] natutuhan sa pagtapat [sa] champion team (NU Lady Bulldogs). Mababaon namin 'yun sa mga susunod namin na mga liga (I'm happy because we still got a podium finish although we fell short but the bottomline is we learned a lot as we faced the champion team. We can bring these lessons in our future competitions)," he said.

The Morayta volleybelles started the match close behind the Jhocson-based squad until NU's Arah Panique caused a 0-5 run with an attack and four straight aces, 8-15.

Fortunately, FEU countered with a 6-0 run of their own to keep the set tight.

Despite Gerzel Petallo's six attacks to go back and forth against the Lady Bulldogs in just the first set, the Lady Tams would fall in the frame, 21-25.

To begin the second set, FEU took the lead behind Chenie Tagaod's five early attacks, forcing NU to call time at 12-9.

Another neck-and-neck exchange between the two teams ensued until a 22-all deadlock forced the Lady Bulldogs to use their second timeout.

After another tie, Tagaod would act as the closer with two consecutive attacks for the Lady Tams to ultimately prevail in the set, 25-23.

With one set apiece, both teams grappled for momentum as they exchanged multiple runs, preventing each other from pulling away.

Petallo and Tagaod would then come through once again for the green-and-gold squad as they both recorded six markers of their own to rally the offense, 25-20.

Despite the Morayta-based squad's momentum going into the fourth set, the seesaw affair between the teams continued, 15-16, before the second technical timeout.

From then on, FEU would commit five of their nine unforced errors in the set, ballooning NU's lead and allowing a fifth set, 19-25.

The Lady Tams’ messy play unfortunately extended into the deciding set, forcing Coach Manolo to spend all their timeouts at 1-5 and 3-9.

Coach Manolo tried to turn the tide by putting in Faida Bakanke and Karyll Miranda for Tagaod and Tin Ubaldo, but any sort of comeback could not be mustered, ending the match, as well as the finals series.

Despite the loss, the lead tactician shared his pride for the performance of the rookies throughout the tournament.

"Happy ako sa performance na ipinakita ng rookies. Short preparation lang 'yun pero naka-adapt agad sila sa system. Nagiging maganda 'yung chemistry [ng rookies] sa old players so magandang sign para sa bagong mukha ng FEU (I'm happy with the performance shown by the rookies. They adapted fast with the system despite the short preparation. The rookies also worked well with the old players, which is a good sign for the future representatives of FEU)," Refugia stated.

Petallo and Tagaod led the offense with 20 and 18 points, respectively. Ubaldo pitched in with eight markers of their own.

Maragarett Encarnacion also had a great showing in anchoring the defense with 28 excellent receptions.

Jean Asis, who scored 12 in the match, was recognized as the SSL 2nd Best Middle Blocker in the awarding ceremony.

In another interview, the lady middle blocker mentioned her happiness to bag an individual award which was one of her goals.

"Super proud of myself dahil ito talaga 'yung goal ko, 'yung makakuha ng individual award. Pinush ko talaga 'yung sarili ko and I'm happy naman na nagbunga 'yung ginawa ko (I'm super proud of myself because this was really my goal to achieve an individual award. I really pushed myself and I'm happy that my hard work was fruitful)," Asis shared.

NU claims the title as this year's SSL National Invitationals champions while De La Salle-College of St. Benilde completes the podium with a bronze finish.

(Photo by Zedrich Xylak Madrid/FEU Advocate)