The STANDS - An INQUIRER Sports Newsletter

 

May 10, 2024

UST again overcame serious height disadvantage to knock the crown off La Salle's head. (UAAP MEDIA)

Hey there sports fan, It’s National U vs University of Santo Tomas in the UAAP Season 86 volleyball Finals, in both the men’s and women’s divisions.  NU’s men’s squad breezed through its half of the semifinal bracket, eliminating La Salle to  reach the final.   The Tiger Spikers, on the other hand, came through in a historic manner, becoming the first No. 4 seed to reach the championship series in the Final Four era. The UST men’s team took down top seed Far Eastern University, refusing to believe the Tamaraws’ twice-to-beat edge was too big an obstacle to overcome.  The Tigresses, meanwhile, didn’t need to reach for their playoff protection card. UST ousted defending champion La Salle in just one game after taking the No. 2 seed and the twice-to-beat benefit in a tense battle against the Lady Spikers.  The Lady Bulldogs, on the other hand, received a shocking fight-back from FEU in their semifinal duel and were dragged to a deciding contest by the Lady Tamaraws.  But NU made good use of its twice-to-beat card to bamboozle FEU in the deciding contest.  UST, of course, is looking for its first crown since… Do you know when? (Answer can be found at the end of this email). It’s actually going to be a busy week of intense playoff volleyball ahead. In the Premier Volleyball League, the All-Filipino Conference championship series opened up with Creamline jumping to a 1-0 edge after defeating Choco Mucho in the Finals opener. After looking vulnerable throughout a roller-coaster tournament, the Cool Smashers found their groove late in the semifinals and find themselves on the cusp of yet another title celebration.

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Terrafirma ousted NorthPort for the last quarterfinal berth.  (PBA IMAGES)

Meanwhile... …It’s all systems go for the PBA Philippine Cup playoffs, after Terrafirma disposed of NorthPort and seized the last quarterfinals berth. It’s not much of a prize, really, for the Dyip as the No. 8 spot will battle the top seed, which owns a twice-to-beat advantage. And if that’s not enough to make Terrafirma the underdog, how about this: San Miguel Beer owns that No. 1 spot. It's not an impossible pairing for Terrafirma, however, as Meralco proved​ that the Beermen can be vulnerable in this tournament. What we're up to next: In the coming days, the rush of crucial sports games is going to leave everyone gasping for breath (including us!). There's the PBA quarterfinals that will start on the day this email hits your inbox. Then there's the UAAP and PVL volleyball Finals. The NCAA volleyball toutrnament, too, is hitting high gear. Plus, we will also track the results of the ongoing NBA playoffs. So keep it here with us across all our platforms! Number of the Week: 4 Number of Defensive Player of the Year trophies Rudy Gobert has won.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “As long as there was a [chance], no matter how small, that we could go through to reach the Finals, we will always try to find a way.” —UST's Josh Ybañez, after leading the Tiger Spikers to the UAAP men's volleyball finals, where they became the first No. 4 team to reach the championship in the Final Four era.

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Four. That's the answer to the trivia question above. Think you can ace the rest of the quiz? head over to our Viber community and try the test out! Buy the Inquirer at newsstands, subscribe to our digital edition, Inquirer Plus, visit our online site and follow us on socials (Twitter: @inquirersports; FB: facebook.com/inquirersports) for more stories and updates—or to send us questions or suggestions of stories you'd want to read. See you next Friday! Francis Francis T. J. Ochoa is the Sports Editor of the Philippine Daily Inquirer. For comments, suggestions and questions, hit him up on Twitter (@ftjochoaINQ).