The UP Fighting Maroons ✊ and UE Red Warriors 💣 open Sunday UAAP volleyball action at the Smart Arenata Coliseum.
Champion NU and unbeaten FEU meet again in a marquee Round 2 showdown, while UP and UE battle in a clash of struggling squads in the UAAP Season 88 men’s volleyball tournament.
Defending champion NU gets its shot at revenge against unbeaten FEU, while struggling UP and UE collide in a matchup where one team will finally find relief from a miserable skid.
The Fighting Maroons and the Red Warriors open the festivities at 9:00 a.m., before the spotlight shifts to the much-anticipated NU-FEU rematch at 11:00 a.m. at Smart Araneta Coliseum on March 19.
Both matches will stream live on the Pilipinas Live app and the UAAP Varsity Channel.
The Tamaraws handed the Bulldogs one of their two losses so far this season, and at 6-2, National U sits in second place behind unbeaten FEU, which has raced to an 8-0 start.
Aside from revenge, the five-time defending champions are also eyeing back-to-back wins after a much-needed recovery against the Fighting Maroons in their last outing.
Leo Ordiales and Buds Buddin delivered 14 points each in that victory, while Greg Ancheta kept the offense steady with 25 excellent sets.
Still, toppling FEU is a challenge few teams have solved.
The Tamaraws are once again on the verge of a 9-0 first-round finish, and the Morayta-based school heads into the rematch carrying all the momentum.
Even after dropping the opening set against UE in their previous game, FEU quickly regained control and pulled away for a four-set win as Amet Bituin and Dryx Saavedra led the way with 15 points apiece and Ariel Cacao tossed up 25 excellent sets.
Meanwhile, UP and UE head into their second-round meeting desperate to stop the slide.
The two teams remain stuck at the bottom of the standings, with the Fighting Maroons at 2-6 in seventh and the Red Warriors at 1-7 in eighth.
Their first-round meeting, however, showed just how tight the matchup can be.
UP needed five sets to put UE away, with Olayemi Raheem exploding for 30 points to power the Fighting Maroons past the Red Warriors in a hard-fought battle.
In women's division, The UP Fighting Maroons ✊ and UE Lady Warriors 💣 play for a much-needed W!
Defending champion NU Lady Bulldogs held off the UP Fighting Maroons with heavy net defense in the fifth set to clinch glory in the second round of the tournament. The team facing the Lady Tams that made them scramble in the first round.
What team will WIN?
