THE ATENEO Lady Eagles fell to the Technological Institute of Philippines (TIP) team in 5 sets, 24-26, 25-14, 21-25, 25-18, 12-15, on Monday, August 1, 2016, at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
As this was the first game of the Lady Eagles, the team currently stands at a 0-1 win-loss record in the Shakey’s V- League collegiate tournament.
The long-awaited first official game of the Ateneo Lady Eagles in the post-phenom era featured the young Lady Eagle team without three-time Most Valuable Player Alyssa Valdez and Amy Ahomiro in their line-up. However, unfortunate circumstances also left the team rookie-laden in this game, as veterans Jhoanna Maraguinot and Bea de Leon were unable to see action due to injuries.
Maraguinot currently suffers from a stress fracture on the shin, which will cause her to skip out on the next few matches, in order for her to come out stronger in the future games. De Leon, on the other hand, is suffering from a back leg muscle strain, which did not allow her to make contributions to this game.
The Blue and White team tested the waters of the new circumstances by starting out slow in the first set. Both teams entered into a see-saw battle, where each team would extend their lead, but the opposing team would garner the advantage in the next sequence due to the errors and violations committed, specifically in distribution and attacks.
In the following sets, the Lady Eagles were able to step up their defensive strategies as veteran libero Tan was seen saving the ball from going off-court in order for the attackers to strike at the opponent’s side. With the combination plays of the Lady Eagles, the team was able to take the second and fourth sets. However, the offensive outputs yet need to be improved, as errors were drawn out from powerful attacks going wide and mishits committed at the net.
Come the fifth and deciding set, both teams came out stronger, especially in pulling off more combination plays in order to gain the advantage during the match. Ateneo led the set with quick attacks from Ana Gopico and excellent serves and blocks from rookie Julianne Samonte. However, after tying the game at 11-11, errors plagued the Blue and White, surrendering the game to TIP.
“It was shaky because may batang pumapasok, naglalaro, wala pa ibang veteran players namin (It was shaky because there were kids who were coming in, playing and our other veteran players were not there),” says Morente when describing the turn-out of the game. “It was really fun to be back in the court, but there [are a lot] of improvements to do as a player.”
Top scorer Pauline Gaston led the team with 17 points as the Best Scorer of the game. Team Captain Michelle Morente and Kim Gequillana followed with 16 and 13 points, respectively, in terms of their contributions to the team’s offensive output. On the other hand, Morado delivered 59 excellent sets and topped in the team with 3 service aces.
The team will face San Sebastian College- Recoletos on Saturday, August 6, 2016, 6PM at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Box Scores:
Ateneo: Gaston- 17, Morente- 16, Gequillana- 13, Gopico- 10, Morado- 7, Samonte- 7
TIP: Paat- 14, Mabayao- 9, Layug- 7, Fidel- 4, Saet- 4, Espinosa- 3
I think the team captain should be Julia Morado, and not Michelle Morente, based on the team picture above. She has a stripe under her jersey number, signifying leadership of the squad