Smashing
The Ateneo Lady Netters outclassed all their opponents in this year’s Unigames garnering their first ever gold in the event. “The whole team played very well,” said Michelle Pang (III BS CTM), captain of the Lady Netters.
Pang overwhelmed her De La Salle University counterpart in the finals, 6-0, 6-0. “Everyone really stepped up when they needed to in the tournament,” she said. “Hard work really paid off and proved pivotal for the Lady Netters in this tournament.”
“Now we just have to focus on UAAP,” she added, as they try to do a repeat of their out-of-town success come mid-January when the tennis season starts.
Not to be outdone by their lady teammates, the Ateneo Blue Netters also gave an above par performance last October. Following last year’s third place finish, the Blue Netters came home with another hard earned bronze medal. “Coming into Unigames, the main goal of the team was to strike fear into the hearts of our opponents, and Unigames was a definite first strike,” said Team Captain Ayo Canlas (II BS ME).
Missing the gold by seven points, the Blue Netters bettered themselves and surpassed everyone’s expectations, Canlas added.
In top flight
Team Ateneo continued to shine in the Unigames as the Blue and Lady Tankers bagged second and first place, respectively.
Coming from their recent conquest of the UAAP swimming competition, the women’s team sustained their sterling performance, bagging 15 gold medals, seven silvers and five bronzes, to emerge victorious in 16 events of their division.
Looking at their performance, Team Captain Lyllian Banzon (IV BS HSc) related, “Since we had a good finish during our UAAP season this year, this gave us confidence and strengthened our team. [In fact], everyone in [our] 10-member line-up won at least one medal.”
Meanwhile, Blue Tankers Captain Jonas Ramos (IV AB MEco) pointed out that despite the men’s team’s second-place finish, they still performed well. Hauling in six gold medals, the Blue Tankers were only overtaken by Rizal Technological University for the championship as the latter took home nine golds.
More than winning, Ramos emphasized that they benefited from the Unigames experience. He said that the out-of-town competition gave the team a yardstick, to improve further in the following tournaments.
The Invincibles
After scoring their fourth championship crown in the UAAP last September, the Blue Eagles swooped passed all their opponents and claimed victory once again in Dumaguete City. With a 7-0 record, the Eagles came into the last game against the Manila-based Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) oozing confidence. They dismantled EAC in the finals and earned their second championship trophy in three months.
“It went very well since the younger guys, the rookies, and the guys who didn’t play a lot during the [UAAP] season were given a lot of playing time,” said Bacon Austria (II AB MEco). The Eagles, who missed the services of key players like Jobe Nkemakolam (IV AB IS), Mike Baldos (MBA), Yuri Escueta (MBA), Jai Reyes (IV BS CTM), Nonoy Baclao (III AB IS), and Chris Tiu (V BSM AMF), were also backed up by Team B standouts Alec Rivera (II AB Comm), Emman Monfort (III AB IS), and Vince Fran (I BS CTM). “We only had a week of practice before the Unigames, good thing the results were good,” he added. Eric Salamat (III AB IS), who was awarded the MVP of the Nike Summer League early this year, repeated this feat as he ended another tournament with 15 points in the finals, bagging MVP.
The next target for the Blue Eagles will be the annual Champion’s League that will be underway November 24.
Outshined
“The team was undermanned that’s why we dropped down to fifth place,” said Bryan Sutingco (IV BS Bio), team captain of the Blue Tracksters. With the absence of key players like Zek Valera (III BS HSc) and Mike Mendoza (III BS Bio), as well as a lack of venue equipment and injuries, the team dropped down from last year’s bronze finish.
Sutingco adds that the poor scheduling of the athletics events during the tournament made fatigue their number one hurdle during the competition.
“The Unigames helped open our eyes to where we stand in terms of the level of competition. Come UAAP season, we already know what to expect from them,” he said, referring particularly to Far Eastern University.
Sutingco, along with Dominique Hey (III AB Eu) and Itunu Kuku (III AB DS), grabbed silver medals in their respective events, while Angelo Arayata (II AB-MA PoS), Geoffrey Reyes (III AB MEco), and Charles Bañez (III AB IS) finished bronze. Bagging seven medals in total, the Blue Tracksters came short of claiming a podium finish this year and hope to improve on this standing in their succeeding events and competitions, especially the UAAP.
Spiking out
Journeying to Dumaguete for the main purpose of gaining more experience and practice for the upcoming UAAP season, the Blue and the Lady Spikers were very happy with both performances.
The Lady Spikers, sending only some of their players to the Unigames to compete in the beach volleyball event, were able to finish fourth even though beach volleyball was new to them. “Well, beach volleyball is not an easy sport, adding all the external factors like the weather and the terrain, it just makes it more difficult,” explained Asia Urquico (II BS Bio), a first-timer in the said event. “Even though we are a young team, we were able to give up a good fight against our opponents.”
“It was a good learning experience being up against strong teams,” says Blue Spiker Captain AJ Pareja (IV BS Bio-A), as his team struggled in the Unigames, not being able to reach the quarterfinals of the tournament. According to him, the Unigames definitely helped them prepare more for the upcoming UAAP season in December.
