The Blue and Lady Beach Spikers had their hands full as they faced tough opponents in the UP Fighting Maroons and the Adamson Lady Falcons, respectively, on August 29, in UE Caloocan.
Experiencing a case of déjà vu, the Blue Beach Spikers fell to the UP Maroons 21-19, 21-10—a similar score line to yesterday’s game against UE. The boys in Blue had a tightly contested first set, but fell short by just a few points to their opponent. Ateneo came within a single point at 18-19 but UP proved to be a better closer, winning the set by two points.
The second set also had shades of yesterday’s game where the Blue Beach Spikers were outscored by a large margin. UP was able to dominate the set by establishing an early 11-2 lead, which they never gave up.
When asked what they can improve on in the forthcoming games, JP Pareja said, “Dapat all out sa first set pa lang [We should give everything we have starting the first set].”
“Para hindi na umabot sa dikdikan at para rin ma-sustain ang energy sa 2nd set [so we avoid close games and in order to sustain our energy in the 2nd set].”
The Lady Beach Spikers, on the other hand, faced defending champions Adamson University in a three set thriller which resulted 19-21, 21-11, 15-8 in favor of the Lady Falcons. Adamson enjoyed a slim lead for most of the first set and tried to pull away at 12-15; but an Adamson error, two drop shots by Ateneo, and a spike to the back of the court by Sharah So gave the Ladies in Blue a 16-15 lead. The Lady Falcons tried to summon a comeback with an array of hard spikes and drop-shots, but So scored the set-clinching point for Ateneo.
In the second set, the defending champions lived true to their form where they forced Ateneo to commit costly errors giving them a comfortable margin the whole set. They also ran the court extremely well and scored nicely placed drop-shots and powerful spikes.
During the third set, the Lady Falcons continued their hot play with an early 0-5 lead. The lead ballooned to nine points signaled by an Ateneo error. Although the Ateneo ladies rallied by forcing Adamson to commit four consecutive errors—bringing the lead back to five—the Lady Falcons held their poise, winning the set by seven points.
The Blue and Lady Beach Spikers next face La Salle and UE, respectively, on September 1 (Wednesday) at the UE Calocoon beach volleyball courts.
Other results:
Men’s:
AdU def NU 21-9, 21-15
FEU def DLSU 21-14, 21-17
UST def UE 21-14, 21-11
Women’s:
FEU def NU 21-6, 21-11
