Photo by Tristan Tamayo/INQUIRER.net
Ateneo was bracing itself for an all-out war against last year’s finalist Far Eastern University on Wednesday night.
What it got was token opposition as the Lady Eagles blew right by the Lady Tamaraws with a 25-21, 25-10, 25-18 triumph to take another step closer to the UAAP women’s volleyball Final Four at FilOil Flying V Center.
It was Ateneo’s ninth straight win as it continues to highlight its most dominant campaign since winning the title back-to-back five seasons ago.
“We really thank the Lord,” said Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro. “We know FEU will give us a challenge, so we told ourselves to expect FEU to come up with a strong fight.”
But the Lady Tamaraws weren’t up to the task.
Already losing to injury their prized rookie Lycha Ebon, the Lady Tamaraws’ other vaunted gun was seemingly absent in the straight sets loss.
Celine Domingo failed to score the entire match despite averaging 11.9 points coming into the game.
“We are just happy the players responded to the challenge, it is instinctive of them to be fighters,” added Almadro. “So we really leveled up our energy.”
Deanna Wong orchestrated the plays, tossing 30 excellent sets to feed Kat Tolentino, Ponggay Gaston, Maddie Madayag and Bea de Leon.
Ateneo had 35 attack points compared to 27 by FEU and had more kill-blocks (8-3) and aces (5-1). The Lady Eagles also committed fewer errors (18-27).
“I think it showed how prepared we are with how Deanna distributed the ball and how we won the match convincingly,” said Madayag, who accounted for seven points.
Tolentino and Gaston each scored 11 points, while De Leon also had seven in the rout.
Far Eastern thus dropped into a three-way tie for third with idle University of Santo Tomas and University of the Philippines at 6-4.
The Lady Maroons drew the needed points from their bench to overcome University of the East, 25-23, 20-25, 25-23, 24-26, 15-11, in the first game.