The STANDS - An Inquirer Sports Newsletter

 

May 17, 2024

The Lady Bulldogs are once again queens of the UAAP. (AUGUST DELA CRUZ)

Hey there sports fan, Before anything else, a question: The NU Lady Bulldogs won their second UAAP volleyball title in three years and how many overall in school history? The answer is at the end of this email. Congratulations are in order for National University, which dominated UAAP Season 86 volleyball with a golden double. The men's and women's teams defeated their rivals from University of Santo Tomas via sweeps. Like men's coach Dante Alinsunurin said, they're out to dominate the UAAP. The amazing Bulldogs won their fourth straight men's crown and proved that they are still the league standard. Not even a UST team that rode into the Finals on the wings of history could stop them. The Lady Bulldogs, meanwhile, proved a tough nut to crack. Led by Finals MVP Alyssa Solomon and two-time league MVP Bella Belen, NU crushed the hopes of a young and undersized—but hard-fighting—UST Tigresses.  Granted, Santo Tomas entered the Finals with a handicap: Top gun and runaway rookie of the year award winner Angge Poyos rolled her ankle in Game 1 and started on one good leg in Game 2. But the depth and spunky character that carried UST to a surprise Finals appearance were enough to forge a 1-1 tie in Game 2, and a lead late in Set 3. Until they weren't. NU's experience and nerves came to the fore and in the end, the Lady Bulldogs reclaimed the title they lost to La Salle last season.

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Ivy Lacsina is at the center of a talked-about swap between sister teams.  (PVL IMAGES)

Meanwhile... …The Inquirer broke a story​ about a trade between sister teams Akari and Nxled recently and it caught a lot of people by surprise. Nobody was more surprised than PVL president Ricky Palou, who thought he made it clear​ that sister teams can no longer engage in swap meets.  The trade, still unofficial, nearly took the spotlight off Creamline's amazing run​ back to the throne of the All-Filipino, after a conference where the country's winningest volleyball club looked highly vulnerabl​e​. In the PBA, San Miguel Beer survived an unexpected challenge​ from Terrafirma and the Philippine Cup's top seed needed to reach for its twice-to-beat card to send the Dyip packing​ and enter the semifinalist, where it will battle surprise entrant Rain or Shine. More on the PBA: I think this story​ is not getting the attention it deserves.  What we're up to next: NBA! PBA! Basketball will switch to higher gear as the Philippine Cup enters its semifinal round, with intriguing matchups headed your way. Aside from the battle between the Beermen and the Elastopainters, we'll also have old rivals Barangay Ginebra and Meralco squaring off in  the other side of the semifinal fence. In the NBA, the playoffs is also kicking into high gear with the conference Finals looming. Stay up-to-date by keeping it here across all our platforms. Number of the Week: 25 Number of athletes the Philippine Olympic Committee hopes it will field in this year's Paris Olympics.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “We don 't have anyone to match up against them, but we will make things difficult for them.” —Rain or Shine coach Yeng Guiao, on his team's semifinal showdown against San Miguel Beer in the Philippine Cup.

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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).

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).

The Stands: An INQUIRER Sports Newsletter

 

May 3, 2024

Savi Davison and her PLDT teammates missed out on a semifinal appearance by a single point. (PVL IMAGES)

Hey there sports fan, It has been a week of significant numbers in sports. There's the most talked-about 51 points in basketball in a long while. There is the three-point record chase, which is littered with numerical trivia (Like, do you know who is No. 3 on the all-time list of three-pointers made? Answer below). There's lucky 13. There's even the "Death Five." Perhaps the most defining numbers in sports the past week were the ones that popped up alongside the win-loss records of teams in the Premier Volleyball League and the UAAP women's volleyball tournament. It's the points system that was used to break ties in those two tournaments. And boy, did those points make a difference. Ask PLDT coach Rald Ricafort. His team tied Creamline at fourth and fifth places in the ongoing PVL All-Filipino Cup, but the team lost out on the chase for the last semifinals ticket by a single point, 24-23.  Understand that the High Speed Hitters didn't even need to convert any of their three losses to wins to earn the needed points to boot out the defending champions. Had they forced deciding sets in defeats to Chery Tiggo and Cignal toward the tailend of their preliminaries calendar, they would have made the Last 4. Same goes for the UAAP. National U and season surprise package University of Santo Tomas fnished with identical 12-2 (win-loss) records and traditionally, UST would have gotten the top seed because it defeated NU in three sets while the Lady Bulldogs' win over the Tigresses in their next encounter lasted four sets. But because the points system was applied, NU finished at No. 1 and UST dropped to No. 2. The significance? The difference in positions meant the Tigresses will have to battle defending champion La Salle in the semifinals, albeit with twice-to-beat protection, while NU gets to take on No. 4 Far Eastern U,

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San Miguel Beer continues to roll in the Philippine Cup.  (PBA IMAGES)

Meanwhile... This will most likely fly under the radar, but here's an interesting read on a low-key volleyball squad winning the national championship for boys. Also, San Miguel Beer is gunning for a perfect finish in the PBA Philippine Cup elimination round, but no matter who you talk to, no one is counting streaks within the Beermen camp. No one's counting milestones, either. Ask Jorge Gallent. Or Marcio Lassiter. The Beermen have been rolling in the all-Filipino tournament but talk to Chris Ross and he'll be the first to say his team has another gear they can shift to when the playoffs comes around. What we're up to next: We will be covering the PBA playoffs chase, which is now in its tailend, and continue covering the single-round semifinals of the PVL. We'll also be going full blast on our UAAP Season 86 women's volleyball tournament and hope that you will get your fix of varsity action from us, across all our platforms. Number of the Week: 14 In ounces, that's how heavy the gloves that Mike Tyson and Jake Paul will use in their bout weigh. Traditionally, boxing gloves weight 10 ounces. The heavier the gloves will reduce the power of punches.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK “Solving a Rubik’s Cube calms us.” —National U star ALyssa Solomon on how the Lady Bulldogs spend their evenings after they surrender their phones to their coaches.

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LA Tenorio. 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).