National University, Ateneo shuttlers stay clean
MANILA—National University, Ateneo and Far Eastern University kept their records clean after four rounds of UAAP badminton action at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall over the weekend.
NU nipped Ateneo, 3-2, and blanked Adamson University, 5-0, to emerge as the only unbeaten men’s team.
Ateneo and FEU also stayed clean in the women’s contest after posting impressive wins.
Ateneo shut out Adamson, 5-0, and edged De La Salle, 3-2, while FEU beat University of Santo Tomas, 4-1, and blanked Adamson, 5-0.
But it was the NU-Ateneo men’s third-round duel on Saturday that heat up the weekend hostilities.
Antonio Gadi drew first blood for the Blue Eagles, beating Aries de los Santos, 21-11, 21-12. But the Bulldogs leveled with Joper Escueta whipping Patrick Wilfred Natividad, 21-16, 21-13.
The Kennie Asuncion-coached Blue Eagles gained a 2-1 edge after the Gadi-Justin Natividad duo beat the tandem of De los Santos and Andrei Babad, 21-16, 21-11.
The Bulldogs clinched the win by winning the last two games. Escueta and Sonny Montilla beat Natividad and Paolo Sunga in a 51-minute three-setter, 21-16, 15-21, 21-16, and Babad downed Natividad, 22-20, 21-15, in the closing singles.
Ateneo yielded to FEU, 1-4, the following day to drop to fourth place at 2-2 behind De La Salle and FEU, both with 3-1 records.
The Lady Eagles hardly broke a sweat in beating the Lady Falcons, posting victories courtesy of Dia Nicole Magno, Gelita Castillo, Michelle Eunice Roxas, Carla Lizardo and Lisa Encarnacion, who subdued Lovely Sawada, 15-21, 21-7, 25-17.
The Lady Eagles, however, encountered a tough Lady Archers crew.
After Castillo beat Danica San Ignacio, 21-18, 21-15, De La Salle won two straight—Reyne Thraitscka Des Calimlim defeated Magno, 21-7, 21-9, and the pair of Danica Bolos and Calimlim beat Castillo and Roxas, 18-21, 21-12, 21-9.
The Magno-Lizardo duo, however, put Ateneo back on track, but not without a struggle, scoring a 12-21, 21-16, 21-17 victory over Angelica Pauline Ramos and San Ignacio.
Encarnacion again proved to be an effective closer as she toppled Bolos, 21-19, 21-14.
De La Salle, which beat UE, 4-1, in the third round, is in third place with three victories. UP swept its weekend ties—5-0 over NU and 4-1 over UST—to keep fourth spot. UE, UST and Adamson have 1-3 marks.
