THE reigning champions University of San Jose-Recoletos (USJ-R) and last year’s runner up Southwestern University (SWU)-Phinma stayed on course for a possible championship rematch as they registered separate victories at the start of the round robin semifinals of the F2 Logistics Cesafi men’s volleyball tournament yesterday at the University of San Carlos Main Gym.
The Spiking Jaguars squeaked through to the penultimate round by finishing fourth in the eliminations, scored their biggest victory of the season so far by stunning the previously unbeaten University of the Visayas (UV), 26-24, 25-22, 25-19 to move a win away from the finals.
It was indeed sweet revenge for USJ-R who lost to the same UV squad, 20-25, 25-23, 26-24, 25-22 in the elimination round.
Not to be outdone was SWU-Phinma who overcame a second set hiccup in scoring a, 25-19, 19-25, 25-16, 25-22 triumph over the Cebu Institute of Technology-University (CIT-U).
All teams will take a three-week break before returning to action on Nov. 11 as SWU-Phinma battles USJ-R while CIT-U takes on UV.
The top two teams after the single-round robin eliminations will battle for the crown in a best-of-three finals set to start on Nov. 18.