Last stand: UST, NU in do-or-die match for finals seat

National University and University of Sto. Tomas square off for the last bus trip to the finals.
By Mark Escarlote| ABSCBN Sports

No room for mistake.

No tomorrow.

Now or never.

The two-time defending champion National University Bulldogs and University of Sto. Tomas Tigers battle in a winner-take-all match for the last championship round seat Saturday in the 77th UAAP men’s volleyball tournament at the Big Dome.

The Bulldogs and Tigers face off for the last time this season at 2:00 p.m. for the right to face the Ateneo de Manila Blue Eagles in the best-of-three Finals set to start on Wednesday at the same venue.

NU took away the twice-to-beat advantage of UST last Wednesday, 26-24, 28-26, 23-25, 25-21, using their championship experience to survive and force a decider against a team who returned in the Final Four for the first time in three years.   

“’Yung UST matagal sila bago nakapunta sa Final Four kaya sobrang advantage kami (sa experience),” Bulldogs coach Dante Alinsunurin said.

Alinsunurin added that there are some chinks in their game that they need to iron out in order to finish off the Tigers and forge a rematch against the team they swept last year.

“Siguro dodoblehin pa rin namin ang ginagawa namin. Mas dadagdagan namin kung saan kami nagkulang,” he said. “Actually yung transition offense namin nagkakaproblema kami. Alam na namin ang gagawin kaya lang di pa rin namin ma-establish yung sarili naming kung paano siya ayusin.”

This season, NU leads their match head-to-head against UST after splitting the two round eliminations.

Four Bulldogs scored in double figures the last time out in a clinical display of team play that spoiled UST hitter Mark Alfafara’s league-best 37-point performance. Peter Torres, Rueben Inaudito, Ruben Baysac and Jan Paglinawan shared the scoring load making life difficult for UST’s defenders.

“Yun ang sinasabi ko sa kanila. Sabi ko hindi tayo pwedeng may superstar tayo kasi kung maglaro tayo dapat team,” Alinsunurin said. “Yung setter (Vince Mangulabnan) kasi namin ginagawa niya na ang lahat ma-involve sa opensa.”

And this is what UST coach Odjie Mamon wanted his team to address.

“Hindi namin na-execute yung defensive stop for NU,” he said. “Isa lang ang obvious na factor: walang katulong si Alfafara.”

After Alfafara, Arnold Bautista is the only Tiger with double-digit score of 14. 

“’Yun ang gusto kong i-stress sa kanila na magtiwala sa players pero huwag umasa,” Mamon said. “Magkaiba kasi ang nagtitiwala ka sa ka-teammate mo sa umaasa ka sa teammate mo.”

UST also committed 26 errors that Mamon attributed to their lack of experience compared to their seasoned adversary.

“Totoo yun kasi yung sa kanya, nauna kami sa 24 tapos sila tuloy lang,” Mamon admitted, who reportedly stepped down from his post as Tgresses coach after failing to bring UST back in the women’s semifinals for three years in a row.

“Kami kahit lumamang kami, pagdating sa dulo nara-rattle pa, factor din yun,” he added. “I thought (nasolusyunan) ko na yun. Nagtiwala ako sa maturity nila, pero it’s something to work on.”

For the Tigers to return to the finals for the first time since their runnerup finish last Season 74 and take home their first title since winning it all five years ago, Mamon will have to dig deeper in his bag of tricks.  

And this is what he has in mind.

“May mga huhukayin ako sa baul na preparasyon,” he said.

The game will air live on ABS-CBN Sports+Action channel 23, BALLS SkyCable HD 167, tfc.tv. TFC Bro, sports.abs-cbn.com/livestream and uaaplivestream.uaapsports.tv with a same day replay on BALLS SkyCable channel 34/ Destiny Cable channel 36.