THE ATENEO Lady Eagles were dominated by the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses in straight sets, 7-21, 8-21. Later in the day, the Blue and White tandem of Ponggay Gaston and Roma Mae Doromal won a close match against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in three sets, 20-22, 21-17, 15-13 on October 5, Saturday. This was the sixth match day of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 82 Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament played at Sands at SM by the Bay in Pasay City.
Ateneo vs UST
The first match of the day was against Baby Love Barbon and Genesa Eslapor of defending champions UST, with the Lady Eagles struggling against the beach volleyball powerhouse. It was a close battle to start the set with both teams committing errors and trading kills. UST then went on an unstoppable 13-0 scoring run with Barbon scoring five service aces during the run, 4-17. The deficit was too large to overcome and further aces and well executed attacks by UST won them the first set, 7-21.
The Golden Tigresses started the second set with a 6-0 run led by attacks from Eslapor, 1-6. After the run, the Lady Eagles were able to consistently score, but for every point they scored, the UST tandem scored another two. The defending champions eventually ended the set with a 4-0 scoring run, 8-21.
Ateneo vs FEU
Since FEU lost their semi-finals match against the De La Salle University Lady Archers, Lady Tamaraws Shiela Kiseo and Sheena Gallentes faced Ateneo in the battle for third.
In the first set, the two teams traded runs back-and-forth early on. At the technical timeout (TTO), Doromal gave Ateneo the lead with a cross court hit from the middle, 11-10. A few more kills from Doromal widened the lead, but FEU responded with a 5-0 run to force the Ateneo timeout, 14-16.
The Lady Eagles took back the lead with their own 5-0 run after FEU scored an ace, 19-17. A crucial service error by Doromal and an ace by FEU’s Kiseo leveled the score, 19-19. The two teams exchanged kills but a service error by Gaston and a net touch violation by Doromal surrendered the first set, 20-22.
The Katipunan-based tandem built up an early lead with a 5-0 run in the second set, 9-6. They increased their lead with a 6-1 run composed of mostly kills and aces, 15-9. A 3-0 run by FEU later on forced the Lady Eagles to call time, 17-15. The score then went back-and-forth until an attack error by Gallentes and an over set by Gaston ended the second set, 21-17.
The Lady Tamaraws started out the third set well as they built a small lead with kills and aces. However, the Lady Eagles quickly swung the game in their favor with service aces by Doromal, 4-3. Both teams traded scoring runs until a 4-0 run by the Lady Tamaraws forced the Ateneo timeout, 6-9. Then Gaston scored three points in a row to tie the game at 9-9 to force the timeout on the other side.
FEU and Ateneo then traded points until the Lady Eagles took the lead off consecutive errors by the Lady Tamaraws, 13-12. Gallentes scored with a cross court kill to tie the score once more, but a cut shot from Gaston got them the lead back as well as match point, 14-13. Rookie Roma Mae Doromal scored the final point with a spike down the line, 15-13.
After losing to UST, Gaston commented that their main challenge to overcome was “to get back in the game.” However, the Blue and White tandem also commended UST’s skill in controlling the game.
Coming in to the FEU match, the Lady Eagles were looking to make up for their three set loss against them in the elimination round. According to Doromal, the main focus of the team was to go “all out,” seeing as how this would be the last match for Ateneo this season.
The Lady Eagles finish UAAP Season 82 Women’s Beach Volleyball Tournament at third place. The last time the Lady Eagles earned a bronze medal finish was in Season 78 with the tandem of Alyssa Valdez and Bea Tan while the team’s last Final Four finish was in Season 79 with Kim Gequillana and Mich Morente.
Set Scores
Ateneo-UST: 7-21, 8-21
Ateneo-FEU: 20-22, 21-17, 15-13
