IT is all or nothing for Far Eastern University (FEU) and Ateneo de Manila as they battle for the remaining Finals slot of Season 80 University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) men’s volleyball tournament in a no-tomorrow Final Four showdown today at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
The Tamaraws and Blue Eagles square off at 2 p.m. with the advancing to a best-of-three titular series with National University, which cruised to its fifth straight Finals appearance after Bryan Bagunas erupted with 29 points in powering the Bulldogs past the University of Santo Tomas Tigers, 25-13, 25-13, 31-29, in the other half of the semifnals last Sunday.
All eyes will be on four-time Most Valuable Player Marck Espejo, who unloaded a league-record 55 points to keep his back-against-the-wall Blue Eagles alive after defying the twice-to-beat Tamaraws, 18-25, 25-13, 24-26, 25-23, 15-9, last Saturday.
Espejo is fighting to extend his final playing year, as well as fellow graduating players Ish Polvorosa and Karl Baysa to keep Ateneo’s “four-peat” hopes alive.
“I know that FEU reviewed Game One and they will try to stop me because my role in the team is to score,” Espejo said. “I trust my teammates and we all have our respective roles, I won’t be able to do my last performance without their help.”
“Once they give me the ball, I will deliver. I hope that we could surpass our previous performance,” said Espejo, who scored 11 of Ateneo’s 15 points in the fifth set last Sunday.
Ateneo Head Coach Oliver Almadro agreed, as he warned his wards for a major adjustment by FEU, which he describes as a “young, aggressive, intense and one of a kind” team.
“FEU is a strong team. They will really be back, but we will be prepared. We will be ready, and we will be inspired in whatever we do,” Almadro said. “It’s not over. They beat us twice in the elims. We will try to beat them twice. Now we only need this one win. We will really work hard. If we can, triple the effort.”
FEU Head Coach Rey Diaz said they need to learn from that squandered opportunity.
“I hope we all learned our lessons, especially me. The foundation of our team is every member of this team,” Diaz said. “We will force Marck [Espejo] as the only one working from the other team. We just need to polish our teamwork so we can prevail this time.”
The Tams want to end a five-year Finals drought and seek to do what their female counterparts has done, as the Lady Tams finally ended a nine-year Finals drought after ousting Ateneo Lady Eagles, 25-20, 25-21, 14-25, 25-19, last Saturday.