THE ATENEO Lady Spikers finally ended their three-game losing streak with a 3-0 victory against the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs last Sunday, January 27, in The Arena in San Juan.

The first set featured Coach Roger Gorayeb placing Fille Cainglet in the starting line up. This was Cainglet’s first game back since badly injuring her ankle in their game against De La Salle University. Despite playing in limited minutes, Cainglet helped Ateneo take care of the NU in the first set, 25-20.

NU already marked six service errors, which helped build the 13-8 lead of Ateneo early in the first set. Angeline Gervacio displayed her speed and powerful jump serve while Alyssa Valdez had great anticipation of the NU defense, scoring a couple of drop shots.

Led by team captain Dindin Santiago, the Lady Bulldogs, however, bounced back in the second set as they built an 8-4 advantage. Their lead ballooned as much as six in the 11-5 mark, but their service struggles came back to haunt them.

An 11-1 scoring run for Ateneo, which featured the first point of Cainglet since her injury, lifted Ateneo to a 16-12 lead. NU recovered to regain their lead at 19-17, but Valdez and the Lady Bulldog’s errors allowed the Lady Eagles to grab the set, 25-21.

The third set was a see saw match. Despite Ateneo reaching match point at 24-20, the Santiago-led Lady Bulldogs played well under pressure and tied the set at 24. At the score of 25-all, coach Roger Gorayeb decided to re-insert Cainglet in the game to provide a much needed spark. True enough, the rested Cainglet gave the clutch point the Lady Eagles desperately needed to regain match point at 26-25.

With the crowd and momentum on Ateneo’s side, the Lady Eagles finished the match with excellent defense as they wrapped things up with the Lady Bulldogs, 27-25.

Gervacio was named player of the game with 13 points and Ateneo’s win-loss record improved to 7-3.

Team Ateneo faces University of the Philippines on Saturday, February 2, in the San Juan Arena at 2:00 PM.