Ateneo draws first blood against NU in UAAP men’s volleyball finals

The Ateneo Blue Eagles sing their hymn after the win over the NU Bulldogs. Bong Lozada/INQUIRER.net

MANILA, Philippines—One down, one more to go.

Ateneo snatched game one of the UAAP Season 77 Men’s Volleyball best-of-three finals from defending champions National University 25-19, 30-28, 20-25, 25-22, Wednesday afternoon at Smart Araneta Coliseum.

Reigning MVP Marck Espejo was on point for Ateneo as he handed game one to the Eagles by avenging his match point blunder in quick succession.

Espejo had a free outlet and hit one off Bulldog Noel Baysac that sealed the victory.

It was a service error from NU team captain Rueben Inaudito that gave Ateneo the match point, 24-21, in the fourth set but Espejo followed it up with a service error of his own.

In a rematch of last season’s finalist, Ateneo head coach Oliver Almadro wants to seal that first championship for the men in blue this time around.

“We have to be prepared mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually,” Almadro said. “We have to really pray hard.”

“I guess the team wanted it more.”

Almadro added that winning game one is not the goal. It’s championship or bust for his top-seeded Eagles.

“We can’t relax just yet, I’m sure NU will come back stronger because they are the defending champions,” Almadro said.

Ateneo had a two-headed monster in Espejo and Ysrael Marasigan as they finished with 31 and 22 points, respectively.

Jan Paglinawan led NU with 15 points while last year’s Finals MVP Peter Torres finished with 14.