Army fights off Ateneo, grabs share of V-League lead

MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Army muffed several chances to close Ateneo out early before salvaging a 25-22, 25-13, 28-30, 20-25, 16-14 squeaker in the Shakey’s V-League Season 11 Open Conference Tuesday at the Filoil Flying V Arena in San Juan.

The Lady Troopers, fresh off their championship conquest in the Philippine Superliga last Saturday, blew three cracks at match point in the third set the last at 28-27 before outlasting the Lady Eagles in a thrilling fifth set behind Rachel Ann Daquis’ timely hits.

“The roles were reversed after we went up by two sets. All of a sudden they were able to receive and we couldn’t get our blocking going,” said Army head coach Rico de Guzman in Filipino.

“We just gutted it out and eventually we got our receive back and our offense got going,” he added.

Daquis led the way with 16 points, Jovelyn Gonzaga and Mary Jean Balse added 15 and Nene Bautista scored 11 for Army, which ended its elimination round campaign in first-place tie with PLDT at 6-1.

The Lady Eagles were primed to pull off an upset, 14-12, after Michelle Morente denied Daquis in the deciding set.

But Daquis tied it at 14 on a service ace after Jia Morado’s service error followed by two kills by Bautista and Gonzaga to end the match.

The Lady Troopers also withstood a 29-point outburst by Alyssa Valdez.

“That’s true. Alyssa made the game hard for us. Whenever she has the ball we had no idea where her attacks will come,” said de Guzman. “They got momentum because of her.”

Despite the loss, Ateneo is already assured of a quarterfinals slot as the sixth seed along with Army, PLDT, defending champion Cagayan, Air Force and National University.