Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
This was supposed to be the season that Ateneo would have to cope with the absence of its heart and soul.
Looks like the Lady Eagles are doing just fine.
The Ateneo freight train continued chugging forward, crushing one major stumbling block Wednesday with a decisive 25-10, 26-24, 28-26 victory over erstwhile streaking University of Santo Tomas to consolidate its leadership in the UAAP women’s volleyball at Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
The victory extended the Lady Eagles’ winning run to seven games to stay alone on top of the standings—something everyone thought improbable before the start of the season considering Ateneo lost superstar Alyssa Valdez to graduation.
Not only are they defying expectations—they are now at 8-1 for the season—they also have no plans of surrendering their run just yet.
“Coach Tai (Bundit) prioritized training and getting improvement every game; we still have more to come,” said assistant coach Sherwin Meneses in Filipino. “We train differently [for] different teams.”
Ateneo cut UST’s win run at four games, dropping the Tigresses to 5-4.
Ateneo overwhelmed UST on offense, befuddling the Tigresses’ defense with a balanced attack: Bea de Leon and Jho Maraguinot topscored with 12 points each, while Kat Tolentino and Mich Morente came up with 11 and 10, respectively.
“In the end, everyone contributed,” said Meneses. “We remained composed and didn’t give up even though the game was up and down.”
It was indeed a topsy-turvy endgame as UST launched late fight-backs in both the second and third sets.
UP ends slide
But the Lady Eagles withstood each rally as they plugged the Tigresses into a four-team gridlock at third place with Far Eastern University, National University and University of the Philippines, which finally snapped out of a four-game spiral.
The Lady Maroons trampled on the University of the East Lady Warriors, 25-14, 18-25, 25-15, 25-10, in the first game.
The Tigresses started off cold, struggling in both passing and reception to fall prey to the Lady Eagles’ rampaging start.
But in the second frame, UST put up a fight with Cherry Rondina and EJ Laure rising to the challenge. The Tigresses reached set point twice but just couldn’t finish off the gritty Ateneo side.
UST also put up a stand in the third, riding Laure anew to climb from a 23-18 hole to reach set point anew. But Laure committed two errors to slow UST’s run.
The Lady Maroons, meanwhile, relied on their usual heroines Diana Carlos, Kath Bersola and Isa Molde, who all turned in double-digit performances for their fifth win in nine matches.
Carlos topscored with 21 points, while Bersola and Molde issued 18 and 16 points, respectively.
The Lady Warriors offered little challenge, relying heavily on team captain Shaya Adorador, who managed 12 points to lead the team.