La Salle Green Spikers. UAAP PHOTO
MANILA, Philippines — La Salle and Ateneo earned their first win after taking down separate foes in the UAAP Season 85 men’s volleyball tournament on Wednesday at Philsports Arena.
Noel Kampton and Billie Anima lifted La Salle to the win column after sweeping University of the Philippines, 25-21, 25-20, 25-19.
Kampton fired 13 points, including the kills that pushed the Green Spikers away from the Fighting Maroons in the third set. Anima nailed four blocks to finish with 12 points, as setter Paul Serrano made 21 excellent sets.
“Coming from our last game, we saw the things we lacked. We failed to show our performance from our tune-up and practice against UST. We can’t use jitters as an excuse. We’re still adjusting,” La Salle coach Arnold Laniog in Filipino, bouncing back from an opening-day loss to University of Santo Tomas.
UP fell to 0-2 with Angelo Lagando being the lone bright spot with 11 points, while Louis Gamban was limited to just nine points on an 8-of-29 spiking clip.
Ateneo Blue Eagles. UAAP PHOTO
Meanwhile, Ateneo survived University of the East, 25-22, 25-20, 18-25, 22-25, 15-10, to enter the win column.
Abai Llenos, Ken Batas, and Matthew Salarzon led the Blue Eagles with 15 points each, while Jet Gopion contributed 12 points off 10 attacks and two blocks.
Ateneo tied UE and La Salle with identical 1-1 records.
“Of course, we’re happy we got our first win. But during the third and the fourth set, we had lapses that I think we have to address moving forward into the season,” Ateneo coach Timmy Sto. Tomas said. “But I’m still happy that we were able to win the game.”
The Red Warriors couldn’t sustain their momentum from the opening day with Ken Culabat leading the team with 20 points. JP Mangahis added 18 points.