National University Nazareth School moved to the cusp of winning its third consecutive UAAP High School Boys’ Volleyball championship, outlasting Far Eastern University-Diliman, 25-22, 14-25, 15-25, 25-22, 15-13, Saturday at the Paco Arena in Manila.
The Bullpups will go for the jugular on Monday at 9:00 AM after the Individual Awards Ceremony.
Staring at a 5-11 disadvantage in the fifth set, the Baby Tamaraws strung five consecutive points. That cut it to just one at 10-11, ending with an Andrei Rebusquillo drop from the middle.
From there, NUNS regained control and, despite FEU-Diliman’s fight back, the Bustillos-based squad eventually closed the match with a kill from Jeffe Gallego Jr.
“Nung una, kanya-kanyang diskarte. Pero nung huli, pina-realize ko na hindi naman kailangang individual yung diskarte, kailangan as a team,” Bullpups coach Edgar Barroga said.
“Kaya nawala kami nung second at third. Bumalik lang kami nung na-realize nila yung resulta ng nangyari,” he added.
The Bullpups also defeated the Baby Tamaraws in the elimination round, 25-18, 20-25, 25-18, 21-25, and 15-17 last February 21; and 25-23, 23-25, 25-21, 25-20 last March 11.
As had transpired in their first two meetings in the elimination round, NUNS took advantage of its strong start to bag the opening set at 25-22.
FEU-D, though, got the better of the reigning back-to-back champion in the next two sets, fashioning out stunning routs at 25-14 and 25-15.
