Ateneo, NU lady tossers near finals

Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net

AFTER barely making it to the semifinals, Ateneo moved within just a win of nailing a championship berth.

Showing renewed confidence, the Lady Eagles stunned the top-seeded Far Eastern U Lady Tamaraws, 25-14, 28-26, 25-22, yesterday to take the semifinal opener in the Shakey’s V-League Season 13 Collegiate Conference at Philsports Arena.

In the other duel, defending champion National U hacked out a 25-23, 25-23, 23-25, 26-24 victory over University of the Philippines to likewise move a win away from the finals.

The Lady Eagles sandwiched a thrilling second frame with two commanding set-wins as they took advantage of an FEU side that played minus star spiker Bernadeth Pons, who was nursing an ankle sprain.

“I really feel that we’ve regained our confidence and that pushed us to play well,” Ateneo skipper Michelle Morente said of her team, which downed San Sebastian in a do-or-die match for the last semifinal slot just two days ago.

Morente and Bea de Leon unloaded 13 points each to lead the Lady Eagles, who saved three set points to snatch the second frame, 28-26.

The Lady Eagles and the Lady Bulldogs will shoot for a sweep tomorrow.

Ateneo’s male counterparts also came out triumphant as the Blue Eagles swept La Salle to book a return trip to the Finals in the Spikers’ Turf Season 2 Collegiate Conference.

Marck Espejo got away with 24 points as the Eagles ripped the Green Archers in straight sets, 26-24, 25-19, 25-17, in Game 2 of the best-of-three semifinals.

Rex Intal and Josh Villanueva combined for 17 for the defending champions who survived a five-set scare in Game 1.

Ateneo arranged a title clash with NU, which downed University of Santo Tomas,  25-19, 25-18, 25-21.

Madz Gampong fired 21 as the Bulldogs overpowered the Tigers on attacks (36-24), blocks (9-5) and aces (5-1).