MANILA, Philippines - Far Eastern U pounced on Ateneo-OraCare’s mediocre reception in the deciding set to pound out a thrilling 25-12, 22-25, 25-27, 25-19, 15-9 victory last night in their sudden death for the fourth and last semifinal berth in the Shakey’s V-League Season 6 second conference at The Arena in San Juan.

Cherry Vivas, living up to her billing as the league’s leading scorer, came away with 25 hits to power the Lady Tams to a second straight Final Four appearance in the country’s premier women’s volley league sponsored by Shakey’s Pizza.

“She has improved tremendously since the first conference,” said FEU coach Nes Pamilar of her prized hitter, who combined with Monique Tiangco to give the Lady Tams a 10-3 lead in the fifth set en route to the victory.

The Lady Tams’ win also completed the same Final Four pairing as in the first conference with FEU, as the No. 4 team, taking on topnotcher UST and the second seeded San Sebastian battling No. 3 Adamson in a pair of best-of-three series beginning tomorrow.

UST and SSC went on to dispute the first conference crown with the Tigresses dropping the first game before sweeping the next two.

“We also leaned on our solid service which they had a hard time neutralizing that’s why we were able to score with open spikes,” said Pamilar.

Shaira Gonzales added 22 hits while guest player Rachel Daquis tossed in 20 points for FEU.

Fille Cainglet made 20 hits while Dzi Gervacio added 17 points for Ateneo, which missed the semis for the third straight conference.

It was a sorry setback for Ateneo, which showed a big fighting heart and endgame poise in defeating fancied UST in five sets in the final day of the quarters to force a playoff with FEU for the last semis seat in the tournament backed by Accel, Mikasa, Mighty Bond and OraCare.

The Lady Eagles, who failed to wrap up the match after losing the fourth set, actually closed to within 9-11 in the deciding frame as Rose Cabanag made an attacking error but Gonzalez and Daquis scored on back-to-back hits against Gervacio.

A service ace by Cabanag and another kill by Daquis ended the closely fought match and carried the Lady Tams to the next round.