A pair of escape acts pushed Adamson closer to a third place finish in the Shakey’s V-League Season 10 First Conference at the MOA Arena on Thursday.

Pau Soriano unleashed 18 hits, including a couple of blocks and a service ace at endgame while Shiela Pineda drilled in a match-clinching kill to eke out a 23-25, 25-23, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12 victory over University of Santo Tomas.

The Lady Falcons go for the clincher on Sunday also at the MOA Arena.

The Tigresses looked headed for a win after seizing a 2-1 set lead but the Lady Falcons, with Soriano and Pineda combining with Angela Benting, rallied with a pair of squeakers in a match that could’ve gone either way.

“The players just never gave up. I have to give it to them,” said Adamson coach Sherwin Meneses in Filipino.

National U, which is playing Ateneo for the crown at presstime, took most of the individual awards in the league’s season-opening conference .

Dindin Santiago bagged the Most Valuable Player plum, Ruby de Leon took the Best Setter honors, Jen Reyes won the Best Digger honors and Myla Pablo the Best Attacker title.

Ateneo copped the Best Receiver award for Thai guest player Jaroensri Bulaee while top hitter Alyssa Valdez won the Best Server awards.

The other awardees were UST’s Ortiz (Best Blocker) and Lastimosa (Most Improved).

Pineda and Benting each finished with 23 points, Soriano added 18 hits and Mylene Paat, Faye Guevara and May Macatuno combined for 16 markers for the San Marcelino-based squad.
Adamson and UST split the first two sets via two-point margins and though the Tigresses seemed to have seized control with a six-point win in the third, the Lady Falcons struck back and took another close two-point victory to force a decider.

But Pineda, Benting and Soriano and the rest of the Lady Falcons proved steadier in the end, outhitting and outhustling their rivals to take the opener of their best-of-three series for third in the league sponsored by Shakey’s.