Photo by Joseph S. Angan

After ending the elimination round of the UAAP Beach Volleyball Championships tied for first place, the Ateneo Lady Beach Spikers found their way to the finals against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) after besting the Adamson Lady Falcons on the same date, September 17, at the University of the East-Caloocan Sand Courts.

Ateneans Bea Tan and Alyssa Valdez started the day with their semifinals match against Adamson’s Pau Soriano and Shiela Pineda. The winner of the match would face a much-improved UST squad later in the day.

The first set leaned heavily in favor of the Lady Falcons, as their aggressive offense clicked, surprising the Lady Beach Spikers. Tan and Valdez found themselves trailing by as much as eight at one point and were not able to recover quickly enough. Adamson took the first set, care of a denial of an emphatic Ateneo spike, 21-14.

The Lady Beach Spikers got back on their feet in the second set, as they did not let their San Marcelino-based opponents control the lead. All in all, the set featured five deadlocks and both teams exchanged the lead four times before the officials called the technical timeout with the score of 12-9 in favor of Ateneo.

Numerous Adamson service errors and fits of miscommunication proved to be their undoing, as Ateneo capitalized on Soriano and Pineda’s disruption of focus. The Lady Beach Spikers sparked a 5-0 run late in the game, giving them enough momentum to win the set, 21-18, and force a do-or-die third canto.

The third and final set started with Ateneo giving Adamson a barrage of spikes and deep serves. Tan’s hustle to dig down low balls opened up opportunities for Valdez’s athleticism to deliver explosive spikes throughout majority of the set. Adamson, however, would not give up and managed to counter with a 9-3 run late in the crucial part of the game. But Ateneo’s maturity proved to be enough, as they kept their composure to catapult themselves to the championship round via a 16-14 score line.

When asked how the team was able to bounce back after dropping the first set, Tan answered, “Tiwala lang sa sarili at partner. Focus on the ball and minimizing as much errors as possible.”

With the UST Tigresses destroying La Salle in the semifinal, the top two seeds of the tournament immediately faced each other in the first game of Season 74’s best-of-three finals.

Since UST was the only team that managed to give Ateneo a loss, the Lady Beach Spikers were prepared with a couple of adjustments. “Focus on defense as much as possible and run for all the shots. We need to focus on defense, that’s where we lacked on the first game,” Tan and Valdez stated.

The Ateneo tandem found themselves once again faced with UST’s Maruja Banaticla and Judy Ann Caballejo. The Tigresses started the second set on fire, as they were able to anticipate Valdez’s blocks. Lobs over the defense and deceptive offensive attack on the net brought UST the lead to 13-8 at the technical timeout. The Tigresses never looked back and they took the first set 21-16.

The second set started with constant lead changes as neither team wanted to get blown out. With both squads exchanging spikes and forcing constant errors, the score during the technical timeout was at a tight 11-10 in favor of Ateneo. Valdez would prove to be too strong in the crucial parts of the set, as she bombarded UST with thunderous spikes and on-the-spot serves. Ateneo would win the second set care of UST’s careless mistakes and service errors down the stretch with the score of 21-18.

With the momentum flowing in the Lady Beach Spikers’ favor, they started the third and final set with a quick 4-2 lead. Unfortunately, a series of consecutive unforced errors from Ateneo gave UST enough momentum to gain the lead and control of the entire set.

The Tigresses returned to their first set form, as they anticipated every block and Ateneo offensive attack. A crucial service error from Ateneo gave UST match point, and the Tigresses quickly delivered on the next play.

With the win, UST grabbed the first match of the best-of-three championship, 15-9.

Catch the Lady Beach Spikers on the final day of the tournament tomorrow, September 18, as they aim for their first UAAP Beach Volleyball championship once again at the UE Caloocan Sand Courts.