The Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws asserted their dominance by whitewashing the University of Santo Tomas Tigresses to seize a vital third win in the UAAP Women’s Badminton Tournament, yesterday afternoon at the PSC Badminton Hall.
Both teams began the game with identical 2-2 records, highlighting the importance of the match. Acknowledging that fact right away, FEU’s Thea Pomar wasted no time to make her chances count. She overwhelmed UST’s Patricia Barredo in two sets, 21-13, 21-18. With the early advantage, Michal Duquilla padded her team’s lead when she met Airish Macalino. The second singles’ player of FEU even took less time to dismantle her foe, also in two sets, with a score of 21-14, 21-12.
The Tomasinas had it all to do after losing ground in the first two singles’ matches. To salvage a result, their hopes rested on the shoulders of Barredo and Steffi Aquino. The Tigress duo went head to head with FEU’s Pomar and Hannah Tudtud. The opening set was tightly contested. No one led by more than three points. Eventually, the FEU pairing took the first set 22-20. Desperate to keep UST in the tie, the Aquino-Barredo tandem raced to an early 12-9 lead in the second set after gaining separation in a tight early exchange. Pomar and Tudtud then responded with a mighty 13-1 stretch to seal victory for FEU.
The huge second set run perhaps reflected the tone of the match. UST had what it took to challenge FEU, but the Lady Tamaraws just had plenty of firepower to clobber the Tigresses. A further reflection of that is the second doubles’ tie wherein UST’s Macalino and Ma. Cristina Gaspar faced FEU’s Duquilla and Maridel Rivera. Macalino and Gaspar grabbed an early 5-0 lead and were able to build it to as high as 7-13. The Tamaraw pair responded with a 9-3 rally to level the score at 16 apiece. As the set went down the wire, Duquilla and Rivera pulled away to win the first set, 25-23. Gaining confidence, they used a late rally in the second set to notch a 21-13 victory.
In the final singles’ match, Tudtud walked away with a 21-13, 21-14 win over Aquino to complete FEU’s 5-0 conquest of UST. The Lady Tamaraws now have a 3-2 record to bolster their playoff spot claim, while the Tigresses fall further on the standings with only two wins in five games.
Come Saturday, the Lady Tamaraws will be on a collision course with the Adamson Lady Falcons while the UST Tigresses will aim to find winning form against last year’s finalists, the Ateneo Lady Eagles.
