The UST Golden Tigresses have a shot at securing the twice-to-beat advantage for the Final Four when they face the top-seeded NU Lady Bulldogs on the final day of the UAAP Season 87 women’s volleyball eliminations on Sunday, April 27, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
On Saturday, the FEU Lady Tamaraws pulled off a stunner, defeating the erstwhile No. 2 DLSU Lady Spikers and locking both teams in a tie at 9-5. UST, with the NU game looming, is ahead of the two squads by half a game with a 9-4 record.
Beating the Lady Bulldogs would secure the No. 2 spot and the final twice-to-beat incentive for the Golden Tigresses, improving their record to 10-4 and putting them ahead of DLSU and FEU.
However, a UST loss would trigger a playoff scenario, with the Golden Tigresses battling the Lady Spikers for the No. 2 seed and the advantage.
Despite winning over DLSU on Saturday, and regardless of the outcome of the UST-NU game, FEU will remain the No. 4 seed due to a lower set ratio. The Lady Spikers won 33 sets against 22 losses this season, accounting for a 1.500 set ratio, while FEU won 32 sets against 23 losses for a set ratio of 1.391.
The inferior set ratio was also why the Lady Tamaraws were not in the running for the twice-to-beat edge, even if a triple tie for the second seed had occurred.
Currently, the Tigresses are in a three-way tie in points with the Lady Spikers and the Lady Tamaraws, all with 27.
If UST loses to NU, it would set up a virtual best-of-three against DLSU in the semifinals, similar to what happened in Season 81, when the same two teams battled for a twice-to-beat incentive in a playoff before facing each other again in the official Final Four round.
Last year, with the twice-to-beat edge, the Tigresses defeated the Lady Spikers in the semifinals to advance to the finals against the Lady Bulldogs.
Regardless of the result against UST, the twice-to-beat Lady Bulldogs will take on No. 4 FEU in the other Final Four matchup.
NU, which has won 11 of its 13 games so far, is expected to field its full squad in its final elimination game against UST.
