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.