With the PVL Collegiate Conference winding down, the Adamson University Soaring Falcons earned some breathing room in the heated battle for the last semis seats, taking down the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons, 25-17, 21-25, 25-22, 25-17, at the FilOil Flying V Centre.
The Falcons broke a tie with the Maroons in the standings, notching a 5-3 card while UP fell to 4-4.
The Falcons gained a decisive edge thanks to UP’s 35 errors. With AdU surrendering just 27 giveaways, the Maroons also withered under the the Falcons’ net defense to the tune of a 10-3 block kills edge.
With all their prior losses coming at the hands of fellow UAAP teams, Adamson desperately needed to get one over UP, said assistant coach Daniel Miranda.
“Pina-realize muna namin sa mga bata ‘yung mga kakulangan nila kung ano ‘yung mga binitawan nilang bagay na nagpapanalo sa team nila. Number one ‘yung receive namin ‘yun ‘yung binitawan nila eh,” he said.
“Pangalawa, sabi ko sa kanila kailangan magkaroon sila ng pride kasi UAAP school, eh puro UAAP schools ang dumali sa amin. So, this time, importante ‘yung laro. Kailangan namin ng panalo para din naman sa university at makita namin ‘yung kakayanan ng mga bata,” he added.
Leo Miranda led the Falcons with 17 points, while Pao Pablico and Mark Alvarez each provided 15.
Mark Millete and Matthew Gohoc each managed 14 markers for the Maroons.
Adamson need to beat the Saint Benilde Blazers (5-3) on Saturday at the same venue to seal the third seed. The loser of that match moves to a playoff – to be played on Wednesday – against the winner of Sunday’s tiff between UP and the Far Eastern University Tamaraws for the fourth seed.
The Scores
AdU (3) – Miranda 17, Alvarez 15, Pablico 15, Labang 6, Alicando 5, Amburgo 3, Nuguid 0, Pinar (L)
UP (1) – Gohoc 14, Millete 14, Consuelo 10, Castillo 9, San Pascual 5, Baldelovar 1, San Pedro 1, Enteria 0, Yan 0, Nasol (L)
