Ateneo held on to second spot after surviving Adamson, 24-26, 25-19, 21-25, 26-24, 15-12, in the UAAP Season 80 women’s volleyball tournament on Sunday at Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The Lady Eagles streaked to their fourth straight win for an 8-3 record and foiled the Lady Falcons’ bid to force a tie with National University, which lost in the opening game, in fourth spot.
Adamson slid to 5-6.
On the brink of defeat, Ateneo came back from seven points down, 22-15, in the fourth set and frustrated Adamson, which is in a crucial run for a Final Four berth, to force the decider.
“Every time coach Tai [Bundit] calls a timeout, he just tells us to be happy and we need to play happy because if we don’t we’re going to lose for sure,” said captain Maddie Madayag.
Earlier, University of Santo Tomas continued its hunt for a Final Four spot after trouncing struggling National U, 22-25, 25-23, 25-21, 25-9.
Recovering from a slow start, Sisi Rondina and the Tigresses simply took the air out of Jaja Santiago and the Lady Bulldogs in the fourth set en route to avenging their first-round loss.
The Golden Tigresses have won two straight—their first time to win consecutive games this season—to rise to 4-7 and keep their hold on sixth place.
The Lady Bulldogs’ fourth consecutive defeat pulled their mark down to 6-5. —BONG LOZADA, INQUIRER.NET