Aiza Maizo got the defending champion Tigresses off the ground in the first two sets, scoring 20 points before Maruja Banaticla and Maika Ortiz teamed up to finish off the Lady Falcons, chalking up 12 points each to help their team advance to the best-of-three championship series.

The Tigresses face either top-seed La Salle or fourth-ranked Ateneo in the other semifinal match on Saturday.

UST got back to its winning ways after losing a five-set match against La Salle, the Tigresses’ finals rival last season, at the end of the elimination round.

“We need to play with a higher intensity in the finals," said UST coach Cesael Delos Santos.

UST had some tense moments in the fourth set as Adamson put up a challenge by taking a 19-18 lead, but the Tigresses racked up three straight points and never looked back.

"They relaxed a bit in the game. They played better in the first two sets but were inconsistent," said Delos Santos.

Angela Benting had 23 points in her final game as a collegiate player for the Lady Falcons while Pau Soriano added 16 markers.

In the men’s side, Far Eastern University bounced back from its first loss of the season to defending champion University of Santo Tomas at the end of the elimination round by beating University of the Philippines.

The Tamaraws got back to the finals after a 25-16, 25-22, 25-20 crushing of the Fighting Maroons.

Nestor Molate and Rodolfo Labrador Jr. tallied 14 points each as the Tamaraws got back to their winning form after a four-set loss to UST that dislodged them from the top of the standings after they had amassed 13 straight victories.

The Tamaraws await the winner of the UST-La Salle semifinal match on Saturday, with the top-ranked Tigers holding a twice-to-beat advantage.

"We learned a lot from that loss (to UST). We had a lot of service errors and we kept on making unforced errors, so we worked for it," said FEU coach George Pascua.

No Fighting Maroon scored in double figures, with Mark Sagad finishing with eight points.