Foiled the last time out, Univ. of Santo Tomas showed its championship poise and beat Far Eastern U in a game it could not afford to lose, scoring a 25-20, 25-21, 25-14 victory to advance to the finals of the sixth Shakey’s V-League presented by Cherifer at The Arena in San Juan yesterday.

Michelle Carolino, back in action after missing the Tigresses first two games in the Final Four, blasted 13 hits, the same output put in by fellow guest player Mary Jean Balse as the Tigresses reasserted their might over the Lady Tams to prevail in their sudden death for the right to face the San Sebastian Lady Stags in the final.

“I didn’t expect to win in straight sets. We knew we would prevail but not via sweep. Michelle’s return really helped us to get through,” said UST coach Cesael delos Santos.

Carolino, who helped steer the RP team to a runner-up finish to Thailand in a beach volley tournament in Vietnam over the weekend, still dished out top form in indoor volleyball as she combined with Balse to put the Tigresses in control throughout the contest.

Judy Ann Caballejo tossed in eight points, Aiza Maizo had seven hits while Maika Ortiz chipped in five points, including a kill that the Lady Tams failed to return that wrapped up the one-hour, 12-minute encounter.

UST and San Sebastian, which swept Adamson in the other semis duel, begin their best-of-three title clash tomorrow.

The Tigresses and the Lady Stags will dispute the title for the fourth time in the last five conferences of the league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza and Cherifer and organized by Sports Vision. SSC prevailed in their last faceoff when it ruled last year’s second conference.

The Tigresses, who dropped a 25-16, 23-25, 21-25, 23-25 loss in Game Two, went to work early, racing to a 12-1 lead in the opening set before thwarting the Lady Tams’ repeated rallies behind Maica Morada.

UST sat on a 15-12 cushion in the second frame but fell into a maze of errors, enabling FEU to wrest an 18-16 lead on a Cherry Vivas’ attack. But the Lady Tams’ top hitter Rachel Anne Daquis made back-to-back errors, which the Tigresses pounced on to take nine of the last 12 points for a 2-0 lead.

The España-based squad kept the momentum in the third, which it dominated en route to the victory and a crack for a fourth championship in the league backed by Accel, Mikasa, Mighty Bond and OraCare.

Morada finished with 11 hits, while Vivas and Daquis had 10 and nine points, respectively, for the Lady Tams, who will dispute third place honors with the Lady Falcons.