One is better than two.

University of Santo Tomas (UST) took the lone but most important head-to-head win over Adamson University to march into the final stage of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 88 women’s volleyball tournament knockout stepladder semifinals.

Giving their elimination round tormentor a dose of its own medicine, the Golden Tigresses shot down the Lady Falcons, 25-16, 25-18, 25-19, to continue the long and dangerous road to the finals on Wednesday at the packed Smart Araneta Coliseum.

UST will take on No. 2 seed and three-peat-seeking National University (NU) in another do-or-die match on Saturday for the right to face unbeaten and outright finalist De La Salle University in the best-of-three championship starting next week.

Experience and momentum from surviving a previous sudden death for the last semis seat proved to be a critical key as the Tigresses shocked a well-rested Adamson side that played its first postgame match in three years.

Angge Poyos led UST, which came off a come-from-behind, 16-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-16, playoff win over Far Eastern University last Saturday, with 17 points on 15 kills, including the game-winning spike, and two aces along with eight digs and seven excellent receptions.

Regina Jurado added 13 points while Jonna Perdido stepped up with 10 markers for the Tigresses, who smothered the Lady Falcons as a sweet revenge after getting swept by Adamson in two elims meetings in straight sets.

“I’ve been praying to the Lord every day to give me this win. Adamson still has a chance to bounce back next season while I don’t have that chance. Thank you, Lord and we really worked hard for this,” said graduating UST skipper and libero Detdet Pepito, who had 16 digs and nine excellent receptions.

The Lady Falcons, behind presumptive Most Valuable Player Shaina Nitura, seemed to have regained their bearing in the third set after yielding the first two as they held the driver’s seat early on.

However, Adamson’s 13-12 lead would be its last as UST racked up six straight points to take a five-point advantage. The Lady Falcons closed the gap, 22-19, but Avril Bron, Perdido and Poyos took care of the finishing blows to end the one-hour, 28-minute showdown.

Nitura was limited to 13 points on 12-of-46 spiking clip with 11 excellent receptions and seven digs while Frances Mordi had a quiet 11-point production as the only other Adamson player in double figures.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Far Eastern University and six-peat-seeking NU forged a second straight title showdown after booting out their respective Final Four rivals in contrasting fashion.

The No. 2 seed Bulldogs overpowered University of Santo Tomas, 25-21, 30-28, 25-19, to book an 11th straight championship appearance.

“Super thankful to my players who came here with the mindset of taking this game… Happy with our performance although UST also committed a lot of unforced errors that gave us a chance to roll,” said seven-time champion coach Dante Alinsunurin, as NU capitalized on UST’s 27 unforced errors.

Buds Buddin led NU with 19 points and 18 excellent receptions.

Gboy De Vega paced UST with 14 points and 14-of-19 excellent receptions, while presumptive MVP Josh Ybañez was limited to nine points on 7-of-26 spikes, though he still contributed 16-of-21 excellent receptions on defense.

On the other hand, the twice-to-beat Tamaraws needed to come back from a 1-2 match deficit before staving off a furious late fifth set rally by the Blue Eagles to eke out a 25-23, 20-25, 16-25, 25-17, 15-12, escape.

Amet Bituin starred for FEU, delivering five of his 12 points in the fifth frame, including the team’s last three points, to complete a three-game head-to-head sweep of the Blue Eagles this season.

“During the last part of the game, in my mind I was praying, ‘Lord, give me strength to push on and overcome this game and get this win,’” Bituin said.

Fueled by Dryx Saavedra’s four straight points to open the fifth frame, FEU raced to a 10-5 lead before Ateneo snapped out of a slow start. Kennedy Batas and Emmanuel Okeke willed the Blue Eagles back in the game after anchoring a 6-2 run to close in 12-11.

Bituin stopped the Tamaraws’ bleeding with a much-needed kill before Okeke answered with a hit. Bituin quickly took the point back before finishing off Ateneo with a finals seat-clinching hammer.

Saavedra had 14 points, Lirick Mendoza had 12 markers, Mikko Espartero finished with 11 markers while Ariel Cacao tallied 26 excellent sets for FEU, which prevented a rubbermatch with a strong rebound in the fourth set to force the decider.

The Blue Eagles missed the finals for the eighth straight year since a runner-up finish in 2018.

Okeke ended his season with 24 points while Batas, who was named Most Valuable Player last year, finished with 15 points and 15 excellent receptions for Ateneo.

Since Season 75, NU has won all three of its finals meetings against the Tamaraws, the league’s most decorated program with 25 titles.