By Aimerose C. Atienza

Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws failed to claim a seat in the Finals after a 13-25, 25-27, 15-25 defeat against the top seed National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City today, May 8.

The green-and-gold squad made a couple of errors on their floor defense as they let NU create five service aces during the first set.

NU’s lead continued to balloon by as much as 12 points after leading Most Valuable Player contender Bella Belen made a service ace at the 12-24 mark.

The first set ended with the same gap at 13-25.

Driven to mount a comeback, the Lady Tamaraws held a tight four-point lead going into the first technical timeout of the second set, 8-4.

Despite gaining momentum on a 13-6 tally, FEU faced another slump on their defense as Belen delivered on both offensive and defensive ends to hold a 16-all frame.

After a series of back-and-forth rallies, the Morayta squad handed another set to the Bulldogs, 25-27.

In the third set, FEU fell into the dominance of NU as they consistently committed errors, including a rotational error for a 3-9 deficit.

Eyeing for the last spot in the UAAP women’s volley championship, the Jhocson squad did not look back and concluded the match in three sets.

In a post-game conference, FEU Head Coach Manolo Refugia acknowledged that the team still had a good season in UAAP 86.

“S’yempre, masakit. S’yempre, pinaghandaan din namin pero kung titingnan naman natin ‘yung brighter side, good run. Good season [para] sa’min (Of course, it hurts. Of course, we prepared for this but if we are to look at the brighter side, we had a good run. It was a good run for us),” he said.

The Tamaraws finished the season at fourth place, a seed higher than their last season’s stint.

(Photo by Kayla Babista/FEU Advocate)