Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Adamson University got back on track after scraping past much-improved University of the East in five sets, 19-25, 25-11, 16-25, 25-16, 25-12, in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament Sunday at Filoil Flying V Centre.
The Lady Falcons ended their two-game skid and improved to 4-5 for sole possession of the fifth seed while the Lady Warriors, whose two-game run came to a halt, dropped to 2-7.
Adamson has lost four of its last five games and head coach Air Padda was well aware of the struggles her team brought in their match against the Lady Warriors.
“Well, we’ve battled a lot of adversity,” said Padda, who added that open hitter Chiara Permentilla suffered an ankle sprain in practice and that Eli Soyud would much rather play as an opposite hitter than an open spiker.
“When things are falling apart, maybe it’s for us so that we can fall into place. And we knew coming into this game that UE has the confidence and I’m pretty sure that they expected to beat us.”
And UE’s confidence showed when it methodically cut Adamson’s lead from four, 8-4, to one, 12-11, after Mary Ann Mendrez’ crosscourt kill.
With the Lady Warriors starting to mount resistance, Adamson’s veterans Jema Galanza and Mylene Paat came to the Lady Falcons’ rescue.
Galanza was the first to attack as she found an open corner for the Lady Falcons’ 14-11 match point before Paat ended it all when she bounced her spike off Roselle Baliton’s block.
“The team did a good job fighting especially in the fifth set not letting UE go on point runs and keeping the lead,” said Padda.
Galanza put up a game-high 22 points while Paat served as her second-in-command with 18 points for the Lady Falcons.
Soyud and Mary Joy Dacoron also finished in double figures for Adamson with 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Mendrez had 17 points to lead UE while Shaya Adorador and Judith Abil combined for 22 points.