Ateneo capped off the first round of eliminations with an emphatic of subduing De La Salle 25-16, 28-26, 25-22, in the UAAP Season 80 men’s volleyball tournament Saturday at Mall of Asia Arena.
The Blue Eagles, who are gunning for a fourth straight title, ended the first half of the season with a 6-1 record and are tied with Far Eastern University atop the standings.
The Green Spikers dropped to 3-4 but are still holding on to the fourth spot with fellow 3-4 team University of Santo Tomas.
Ateneo’s lone loss of the season was against the Tamaraws in the season opener of Feb. 3, and Blue Eagles head coach Oliver Almadro said the setback has been a constant reminder for the team.
“We talk about it because we can’t not talk about it,” said Almadro in Filipino. “But I’d rather focus on the things I have control of. I can’t do anything about that loss any more, so we’ll just have to improve on our strengths.”
Marck Espejo had 21 points to lead Ateneo while Chumasonn Njigha and Ron Medalla combined for 16 points.
Raymark Woo and John Onia had a combined 21 points to lead the Green Spikers.
In the first game, the Tamaraws sent the Tiger Spikers to their third straight loss, 27-25, 22-25, 25-23, 36-34.
Jude Garcia led FEU’s charge with 19 points while Christian Detablan and John Paul Bugaoan had 16 and 13 points, respectively.
Arnold Bautista and Joshua Umandal had 21 and 20 points, respectively, to lead UST.