The second week of the UAAP beach volleyball tournament did not turn out as the Blue and Lady Beach Spikers would have liked.

Despite dominating their opening game against UP and falling short against defending champions Adamson, the Lady Spikers lost three consecutive matches, including a painful two set upset to UE. This weekend, the Ateneo ladies fell to UST and DLSU, both being three set nail-biters.

The loss to La Salle today, September 5, at the UE beach volleyball courts, however, was a critical blow, as it places the Lady Spikers out of contention for a semi-finals spot. Despite winning the first set, the ladies in Blue lost composure, dropping the second set 11-21. It was a barrage of errors by the Lady Eagles that caused problems in their gameplay, miscommunication on the court hampered their trademark fluid offense.

Come the third set, La Salle read the Lady Spikers’ sets and were efficient in positioning their drop-shots, causing the Lady Eagles to scramble for the ball, often putting them out of position. It also created easy kills for the Lady Archers in the open court and forced Ateneo to commit costly errors. The Ateneo Lady Beach Spikers lost 18-21, 21-11, 13-7.

On the other hand, the men’s team had the daunting task of going up against defending champions UST. It was a tough match up, as the Growling Tigers took control of the entire game – not allowing Ateneo a single lead in their two set victory. Although the Blue Spikers tried to rally a comeback, cutting the lead down to three, UST was just too poised to allow a dropped set. The defending champions reigned supreme, 21-12, 21-15.

The Blue and Lady Beach Spikers have two games remaining. The men’s team will go up against Adamson and NU on September 8 and September 11, respectively. While the women’s team will face FEU and NU on September 8 and September 11, respectively. All games will be in UE Caloocan.

Other results:

Men’s

FEU def NU 21-14, 21-8

UE def UP 21-14, 19-21, 15-11

AdU def DLSU 21-17, 21-10
Women’s

UST def NU 23-21, 21-17

FEU def UE 21-16, 21-19

AdU def UP 21-10, 21-12