Photo by BONG LOZADA/INQUIRER.net
MANILA, Philippines-Never underestimate the heart of a champion.
Trampling down the red rebellion, Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles subdued the University of the East Lady Warriors, 25-22, 25-17, 26-24, to stay unbeaten in the UAAP Season 77 Volleyball Tournament Sunday afternoon at the Arena in San Juan.
Ateneo looked at 12-point hole, 15-3, and even allowed pesky Lady Warriors to come within five points of bagging the third set, 20-9.
Everything, however, would crumble for the Lady Warriors as Alyssa Valdez led her squad on a 17-4 run that took the life out of UE.
A quick tap courtesy of Amy Ahomiro started the run with Valdez scoring on three separate attacks to pull Ateneo within 21-18.
UE got a lucky point off Ella De Jesus’ long shot to get the set point 24-21, but the Atenean fired back from the same spot to cut the deficit to two, 24-22.
Ahomiro then scored on back-to-back taps to tie the set 24-24.
Bev Morente and Ahomiro then teamed up to block Angelica Dacaymat to seal Ateneo’s perfect 13-0 record.
Valdez said that they were so complacent after the two first sets, allowing UE to pull off a surprise third set performance.
“For us, we can’t help but become complacent after two victorious sets,” Valdez said. “We became too relaxed and committed so many errors.”
“We couldn’t make our own points.”
The Lady Eagles star spiker said that their head coach Tai Bundit would always tell them to relax and meditate and good things would go their way.
“It’s not yet over, they haven’t scored 25 yet,” Valdez said. “Coach Tai would always tell us ‘be happy’ and that would ease the pressure we carry.”
Ateneo used different lineups during the game in an experiment to gel the other players and give the regulars a chance to work on new positions.
Valdez led Ateneo with 14 points as she got plenty of help from De Jesus and Ahomiro who each got 10.
Shaya Adorador led the 0-13 UE with 17.