THE ATENEO Women’s Volleyball Team continues to struggle as they lose in straight sets to the red-hot Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85 Women’s Volleyball Tournament.
With today’s defeat, the Blue Eagles fell to 1-4 in the season, putting them at seventh place in the standings. The match was held earlier this afternoon at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
It was a back-and-forth affair in the opening of the match as the first set saw a close battle until the midway point of the first canto where lead changes were at a premium. Faith Nisperos used this opportunity to place her stamp on the game early on as she would keep Ateneo close with her offensive prowess, 12-13. However, strong plays from Trisha Tubu destabilized the Ateneo defense late in the first set to give Adamson some needed cushion to take the first set, 25-19.
The Blue Eagles welcomed the second set with intensity as Nisperos continued her spiking mastery by scoring four quick points to give Ateneo a 6-5 lead. Adamson’s Lorence Toring and Tubu then countered with a flurry of kills to stay level with the Loyola Heights-based squad, 17-18. Later in the tail-end of the set, Vanie Gandler would connect on a hit to cut the Ateneo deficit to one, 23-24. However, a down-the-line smash by Kate Santiago sealed the second set for Adamson to give them a two sets to none lead over Coach Oliver Almadro’s squad, 25-23.
The third set saw more constant deadlocks as both sides showed impressive effort from the attack lines, 11-11. However, AdU claimed the momentum for a 2-point lead with quick kills that Ateneo defenders failed to cover, 13-15. Attempting to turn the set around in Ateneo’s favor, Taks Fujimoto set up Miner for a slide attack, 16-18, but the Adamson duo of Tubu and Santiago continued to power through the blue blockade, 17-22.
A series of errors from Ateneo brought the Lady Falcons closer to victory until Narit managed to deliver a monster block at 19-24. The Blue Eagles failed to ride on this opportunity, and Santiago finished the match with an emphatic cross-court kill at 19-25.
The Blue Eagles hope to halt their losing drought next time out as they face the University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses on Wednesday, March 15, at 3 PM at the FilOil Center in San Juan.
Box Scores:
Ateneo: Nisperos – 17, Gandler – 9, De Guzman – 8, Miner – 5, Narit – 4, Sulit – 1
AdU: Tubu – 23, Santiago – 11, Toring – 8, Almonte – 5, Cruz – 5, Romero – 2, Nuque – 1
Set Scores:
18-25, 23-25, 19-25
