ON A windy Sunday morning, care of tropical storm Mina, the Ateneo Lady Beach Spikers battled it out against arch nemesis De La Salle University (DLSU) in the UAAP Season 74 Beach Volleyball Championships on August 28, at the UE Caloocan sand courts.

Ateneo, represented by Bea Tan and Alyssa Valdez faced a more seasoned pair in DLSU’s Michelle Gumabao and Camille Cruz. The Ateneo duo started the match slow, allowing the Lady Archers to jump to a quick 3-0 lead. But, they recovered quickly, capitalizing on La Salle’s unforced errors—preventing a breakaway set.

At every instance La Salle caught fire, the Lady Beach Spikers retaliated with consistent returns and on-the-spot serves. The set eventually boiled down to the wire as both squads constantly exchanged leads after the technical timeout. Valdez’s aggressiveness kept Ateneo in the game, as the duo pushed the score line to a deadlock at 17-all.

With a crucial service error from La Salle at the 18-18 mark, the Ateneo duo capitalized on the momentum swaying over to their side. Alyssa Valdez capped off the first set with a thunderous spike, winning with a tight score of 21-19.

The second set started in similar fashion to the first: with both squads exchanging leads early on. Tan’s excellent placing accompanied by Valdez’s athleticism grooved Ateneo’s pace throughout the set. It would however fall short, as La Salle maintained their consistency in their sets and finished-off their spikes. Ateneo would drop the second set, 19-21.

With the rain pouring and the wind blazing through the court, the already fatigue struck teams extended their match to a third and final set. Valdez started things off by spurring a quick 5-1 scoring run. Tan, on the other hand, continued her consistent play with returns and accurate touch shots, resulting in an abundant amount of La Salle unforced errors. The girls in blue would break away from their arch rivals and proved to be the hungrier team by delivering a 15-2 third set beating.

When asked how they were able to give that kind of performance in the final set, Valdez said, “Kinabahan kami sa first two sets, pero nasanay na kami at nadala ng momentum namin sa third set.”

The Lady Beach Spikers’ performance launches them to a quick 2-0 record in the standings. They next face the University of the Philippines on Wednesday, August 31 at 8:30 am, once again at UE Caloocan.