By Andrei M. Barrantes

Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraw Shiela Kiseo stepped up bigtime to secure the come-from-behind win against University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 17-21, 25-23, 15-13, in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) season 86 women’s beach volleyball tourney bronze medal match at the Sands SM By The Bay volleyball sand court in Pasay City last November 28. 

In their earlier final four loss against National University (NU), green-and-gold beach volleybelle Gerzel Petallo went down in the second set of the 16-21, 16-21 defeat due to a knee injury, prompting the substitution of senior Lady Tamaraw Shiela Kiseo.

The season 85 team captain rose to the occasion entering the battle for third as Kiseo shouldered much of the scoring that Petallo contributed in the prior games.

In the first set, UP caught early fire burying FEU after the 2-2 deadlock with five straight markers. Though the Morayta volleybelles crawled back to tie the game at 11-all, they faltered once more and succumbed to errors, 17-21.

Kiseo and Pons corrected their course in the second set, minimizing errors and forcing multiple UP attack errors with their excellent net defense. 

After a long back-and-forth well beyond the 21-point mark, Kiseo and Pons took turns acing long attacks, forcing a third set 25-23.

In the win-or-go-home set, the beach volley squads traded early blows and kept each other at bay. 

Though FEU had four total errors in this game, they were in turn kept afloat by UP who had six of their own. 

After another 11-11 deadlock, Pons aced a crosscourt attack and a quick drop to extend their lead to 13-12. 

Kiseo extended the green-and-gold score to 14 after chipping in a marker of her own but gave breathed life to UP after committing another service error.

With UP down by one and FEU one point away from victory, Kiseo connected on an offspeed attack, icing the game 15-13. 

After the game, Kiseo spoke on her mindset after getting called up in the most crucial part of their season 86 campaign.

“‘Nung nangyari kay Gerz na parang kailangan na talaga akong pumasok, nandun ‘yung parang kaba ko pero sinasabi ko lang sa sarili ko na kailangan kong i-control yung emotion ko na hindi magiging sobra... Pero nung nakapagpahinga kami nung fighting for third na parang sinasabi ko lang lagi sa sarili ko tsaka kay Pons na tulungan nya lang ako and also pinagkakatiwalaan ko lang talaga ‘yung loob ko tsaka yung tinuro ni coach na kaya ko (When the incident with Gerz happened and it seemed like I really needed to sub in, I was nervous. But I internalized that I needed to control my emotions and not let it overwhelm me to the point of committing errors. When we rested in the final match I told myself and Pons that we help each other out. Also, I trusted myself and coach’s belief in me),” Kiseo said in a post-game interview.

Meanwhile, Pons spoke on her chemistry with Kiseo despite the bronze medal match being the first time they shared the court together.

“Nakaka-proud kasi first time namin magsama ni ate Shiela na ganoon kanina. Parang masarap lang sa pakiramdam kasi nakuha namin ‘yung goal namin kahit nahihirapan kami sa kalaban. Pinakita talaga namin ‘yung pinag-ensayuhan namin and ‘yung pagsasamahan namin (It makes me proud because it was the first time that me and ate Shiela played together. It felt so good to achieve our goal even though our opponent was tough. We really showed what we practiced and our bond),” Pons added. 

Both men’s and women’s beach volleyball squads finished bronze behind National University (NU) and the reigning champion University of Santo Tomas (UST).

(Photo courtesy of Patrick Pampilon/FEU Athletics Department)