FEU TO BOLSTER SEMIS BONUS BID

IT may be close to impossible for the Far Eastern University (FEU) to finish in the top two at the end of the elimination round and earn a twice-to-beat incentive in the final four of the UAAP Season 86 women's volleyball tournament but the Lady Tamaraws will try, anyway.

The first task is for FEU to win its three remaining games in the elims, including its duel against University of the East (UE) today, April 17, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Quezon City.

Game time is 4 p.m.

The Manolo Refugia-coached team will face tail-ender University of the Philippines on April 20 and National University on April 24.

"It feels great because we're trying to bring back the glory days of FEU. Now, we're back in the Final Four. We're happy but the job's not done. We're here already so we're going to dream big," said Refugia, whose team faces a 2-9 win-loss UE team.

"It feels like we're on cloud nine because we waited for this for so long. We're going to bank on our Be Brave mantra. We're going to see how far we can go with it and we're going to do our best."

To keep its bid for a twice-to-beat incentive alive, FEU (7-4) also needs National University (10-2), University of Santo Tomas (10-2) and La Salle (9-2) to lose their remaining games.

UST and La Salle, meanwhile, will clash on April 27.

The Lady Tamaraws enter today's match with their confidence raised through the roof after outlasting erstwhile top seed Golden Tigresses last Saturday, 19-25, 25-19, 22-25, 25-20, 15-10.

That win secured for FEU the last semis spot and a return to the final four after missing it for two seasons.

Middle blocker Jean Asis, one of the heroes for FEU against UST, believes that the Lady Tamaraws have what it takes to compete against higher-ranked teams.

"Nothing is impossible. If we're able to beat the top seed team (UST), why can't we beat the other teams? We just need to persevere, work hard, and trust ourselves and let things transpire as they should," said Asis, who scored 16 points against the Golden Tigresses.

In the other women's game today, La Salle battles Adamson University at 2 p.m.

Missing reigning Most Valuable Player Angel Canino for the third straight game due to a right arm injury, the Lady Spikers suffered a 25-22, 23-25, 16-25, 22-25 setback to the Lady Bulldogs that ended their seven-game winning streak last Sunday.

Canino's status remains questionable for today's game.

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Games Today (Smart Araneta Coliseum): 10 a.m. La Salle vs Adamson (men), 12 p.m. UE vs FEU (men), 2 p.m. La Salle vs Adamson (women), 4 p.m. UE vs FEU (women)

2024-04-17T01:38:38Z dg43tfdfdgfd