CEBU’s last hope for a title in the 2008 University Games was eliminated after the University of San Jose-Recoletoes (USJ-R) men’s and women’s volleyball squads bombed out of contention yesterday in DUmaguete CIty.
USJ-R men’s team pulled off the best finish among the Cebuano campaigners in the weeklong event after making it to the semifinals via a 25-15, 25-18, 25-23 over University of St. La Salle.
For USJ-R head coach Grace Antigua, it was an unexpected finish since she considers USLS a strong team.
However, the men’s team, fresh off a championship win in the Cebu Schools Athletic Foundation Inc,. failed to capitalize on the momentum as it had trouble stopping University of Sto Tomas in the semifinals,24-26, 14-25, 25-18, 19-25.
Strongest contender
“We did not expect to win in straight sets over USLS because they are one of the strongest contenders in this tournament. In that match Ken Abunda was very impressive on his blocking, while Ariel Carumba and Louijie Tipgos did great in spiking. They displayed impressive reception and floor defense,” Antigua said.
However, all these dissipated in their semifinal encounter with UST. The Growling Tigers took off to a 2-0 lead before USJ-R recovered in the third set, but could no longer sustain it in the fourth set, to give UST the finals slot.
USJ-R will be taking on the winner between the University of the Philippines and RTU in the battle for third place this morning.
Meanwhile, in the women’s division, the USJ-R squad formally bowed out of the competition with a five-setter debacle over Adamson University, 17-25, 25-15, 26-28, 25-23, 10-15, owing to a weak front court.
“The girls team just lost their blocking and they lost their defense,” Antigua said.
In the fifth set, the girls succumbed to their nerves when they failed to play smart.
“In the fifth set, the spikers lost their strategic thinking. They just hit the ball without thinking where they should target it. All in all, the girls’ performance was just 50 percent of what they can really do,” Antigua added.
The other Cebu teams in the University Games, which had dropped out of contention the other day are the basketball team of USJ-R and the girls volleyball team of Southwestern University.
Both teams lost in their respective quarterfinals matches. (MCB)
