Men's Volley and American Idol

I watched the replay of the UAAP Men's Volleyball Finals. It was a nail-biting, cliff-hanging, see-saw of a game. UST wasn't defending champions for nothing. They were fighting for every point to keep them alive in the finals. It was in the end, a gallant fight. But FEU proved to be the better team. UST won the first and fourth sets. FEU won the second and third sets. The fifth and deciding set  was won by FEU by a thread... it was 15-13 in favor of FEU.

Credit goes to John Depante and Christian Arbasto for trying to defend their championship. But FEU's JR Labrador, Kirk Beliran, and Arvin Avila got the better of the UST volleyball team. They were more in synch with each other executing combination plays that proved unpredictable for UST. Pitrus de Ocampo shook up the sets by deliberately spreading the tosses among the spikers to confuse the UST squad. If only Kerr Ucang were as imaginative with setting up for his spikers... UST definitely wasn't lacking in able spikers. Mark Alfafara had far too many errors that added up to FEU's points.

Sadly, the men's volleyball games are not as well covered by the media. Studio 23 covers only the finals of the top four teams. Unlike the women's volleyball which is aired from elimination rounds till the finals, the Men's volleyball will perhaps never take off in popularity unless it gives the public images of volleyball as a man's sport. Men's and women's volleyball are poles apart in the manner in which it is played. What makes the girls' games exciting is the long rallies as the ball is kept in the air for extneded periods. The men's volleyball has short bursts of exchanges untill the ball is pummeled by each team to end a particular run.

Congratulations goes to the FEU Tamaraws for hanging in there for four years. The time was ripe for them to grab the championship back after UST lost its star players like JP Torres. The young UST team will have time to learn and bounce back next year. By then some of FEU's senior would have graduated.

image fro  photo bucket

On a separate note, a Filipina/Mexican by the name of Jessica Sanchez is making a great impression on the judges of American Idol. The sixteen year old aspiring songstress from San Diego, got a standing ovation from JLo, Randy Jackson and Steven Tyler when she sang for the top ten round in American Idol. She got the audience singing and dancing when she hit the high notes inspite of her swollen throat. That song number was one of AI's unforgettable moments. Well... I hope she lasts in the competition. After all, America usually votes for male contestants (whether they deserve to win or not)  judging from past winners.