After flirting with disaster, the old, deadly National University (NU) finally returned.

The Lady Bulldogs bared their fangs and clobbered Far Eastern University (FEU), 25-13, 27-25, 25-15, to book their third straight finals appearance in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 86 women’s volleyball tournament yesterday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Michaela Belen and Sheena Toring served as one-two punch on offense and defense to power the Lady Bulldogs to the emphatic bounce- back win that eased the pain of their shock 23-25, 17-25, 23-25 loss in their first Final Four encounter.

With the win, the Lady Bulldogs forged a best-of-three finals duel with University of Santo Tomas (UST), which downed reigning champion De La Salle University in the other Final Four pairing, on Saturday at the same Cubao venue.

‘I just let them play the whole match. I have so little interference. I was actually a cheerleader earlier. I let them play and they delivered.’

Belen, a former Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awardee, fired 16 kills and five aces for a game-high 21 points while Toring terrorized the net with six blocks to finish with 13 points for NU, which displayed tremendous character and maturity in the crucial stretch of the second set.

Belen, in fact, shattered the 25-all deadlock with an off-the-block kill followed by a powerful block by Toring on Faida Bakanke to seal the second-set win, 27-25, that completely demoralized the Lady Tamaraws.

“Of course, we’re happy to go to the finals again. But we have to work hard knowing that we still have some lapses that led to our loss to FEU in our first match,” NU coach Norman Miguel said.

Chenie Tagaod finished with nine points while Gerzel Pettalo chipped in eight markers for the Lady Tamaraws, who were determined to pull off a stunning upset of the Lady Bulldogs to make their first finals appearance since 2008.

Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the job done as the character, maturity and hunger of the Lady Bulldogs prevailed.

In men’s play, UST displayed tremendous grace under pressure to pull off a 25-18, 21-25, 26-24, 26-24 escape of FEU and march to the finals.

Gboy De Vega and Sherwin Umandal caught fire in the crucial stretch while Josh Ybañez dominated the attack zone to help the Tigers emerge as the first No. 4 seed to advance to the finals in the Final Four era.

They will face NU, which earlier beat De La Salle University, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22, 25-21, in the best-of-three finals series that also starts on Saturday.

De Vega fired 16 attacks, a block and an ace for an 18-point performance while Umandal chipped in 16 markers. Ybañez, the reigning Most Valuable Player and the heart and soul of the UST offensive juggernaut, was impressive with 19 points built on 16 hits, two aces and a block.

Popoy Colinares, a 6-foot-2 middle blocker, also did a fine job manning the net to finish with 12 points including two blocks while Rainier Flor and Dux Yambao also contributed four and three points, respectively, for the Tigers.

“It was fulfilling because we’re coming back to the finals. I’m happy, at the same time it’s additional pressure because of the finals,” De Vega, who will join their women’s division counterparts in the finals for the first time since Season 73, said.

UST coach Odjie Mamon said they didn’t do anything special other than playing their game as if nobody was coaching.

“I just let them play the whole match. I have so little interference. I was actually a cheerleader earlier. I let them play and they delivered,” Mamon said.