THE ATENEO Women’s Lawn Tennis Team opened their first round of games in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85 Women’s Lawn Tennis Tournament on Saturday, March 11, at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex. Although the team exhibited significant improvements in the sets with last-minute rebounds, they capped off their first match of the season with a loss against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 1-4.
The first singles match pitted Blue Eagle Melanie Faye Dizon against Fighting Maroon Rachel Velez. Although thrilling back-and-forth relays kept both scores close to each other during the match, Dizon was forced to hand the victory to her opponent in two straight sets, 2-6, 4-6.
The second duel against the Fighting Maroons then went off on a shaky start for Ateneo as UP dominated the match with powerful strokes. As timely errors and missteps from Ateneo’s Francesca Cruz continued to haunt the bout, UP drew the upper hand in the match by claiming their second singles victory, 6-2, 6-1.
[Second Singles]
— Juno Reyes (@Juno_TheGUIDON) March 11, 2023
Cruz drops the second set in a row. UP takes the second singles victory.
Second set score: Ateneo 1 UP 6
Set score: Ateneo 0 UP 2
Team-tie score: Ateneo 0 UP 3#UAAPTennis
Ateneo’s Team Captain Bea de Ocampo and Gabby Sandejas then took the stage to engage in the first doubles match against their UP counterparts. As netballs and return errors hounded the Ocampo-Sandejas duo, the Blue and White were bested yet again by their next-door Katipunan neighbors in two straight sets, 0-6, 0-6.
Hoping to bounce back from consecutive losses, the second doubles saw Ateneo’s Tracy Llamas and Mariam Garsin suited up against UP’s Bianca Pica and Anica Cari. With Llamas’ and Garsin’s impressive returns down the line, the Ateneo pair effortlessly sealed the first set of the match by harvesting point after point. Despite dropping the second set against UP, a tremendous display of synergy and teamwork between the Llamas-Garsin duo forced out a third set that went in favor of Ateneo, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3.
[Second Doubles]
— Juno Reyes (@Juno_TheGUIDON) March 11, 2023
UP’s shot lands just beyond the line to end the three-set thriller in favor of Ateneo!
Third set score: Ateneo 6 UP 3
Set score: Ateneo 2 UP 1
Team-tie score: Ateneo 1 UP 4#UAAPTennis
The final match of the day ushered Blue Eagle Althea Ong and Fighting Maroon Sydney Enriquez into a face-off. Although Ong struggled to keep up with Enriquez’s pace in the first set, the Blue Eagle managed to hold off her UP foe in the second set. However, despite taking the reigns early into the second set, Ong’s approaches towards the net were shut down by Enriquez, ultimately ending the third singles match in favor of the Fighting Maroons, 6-1, 6-4.
The Blue Eagles are set to go against defending champions National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs later today, March 12, at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex for the second round of games.
