THE ATENEO Lady Spikers tallied their first win of the second round with a three-set victory against the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons yesterday, January 22, at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan. The Lady Spikers outhustled UP to a final score of 76-53 with the sets ending at 25-15, 25-14 and 26-24 respectively.
Ateneo kicked off the match on the wrong foot as UP had a good start with their defensive presence and their well-timed blocks. The Lady Maroons managed an 8-5 advantage by the first technical time out of the first set. In response, Marge Tejada, Amy Ahomiro and Ella De Jesus played to perfection for the blue side to tie things up at 8-all.
Crowd favorite Mae Tajima also saw a considerable amount of time on the court due to her excellent contribution in the front row. Along with Ahomiro and Alyssa Valdez’s attacks, this allowed Ateneo to finish the set with a ten-point lead at 25-15. The Lady Spikers lined up 17 attacks in the opening set alone.
The second set featured another good UP start on the defensive end. The Lady Maroons were able to gain a three point advantage early on, 7-4. However, the persistent blocking and receptions of the Lady Spikers propelled Ateneo ahead at 8-7. Ahomiro displayed a variety of tips and spikes that provided enough momentum for the Lady Spikers to take control of the pace of the set.
De Jesus continued her superb play, relentlessly attacking UP’s line of blockers. The Lady Maroons had no answer to the various attacks from different Ateneans; an indication of how well Julia Morado was distributing the ball and setting up her teammates. Tejada then took care of wrapping up the set at 25-14 by connecting on back-to-back service aces.
The Lady Maroons played well in the third set as they kept within close distance of the Lady Spikers. Despite carrying the advantage for a majority of the set, the multitude of errors on the Lady Spiker’s part gave new life to the Lady Maroons with the lead-change at 21-20. The score boiled down to UP gaining the set-point at 24-23 with Julie Calugcug’s defensive ferocity as she delivered a well-anticipated block on Valdez.
Ateneo, however, kept their composure under pressure and eventually captured match-point on Ahomiro’s ever-reliable intensity and Valdez’s precision on the service zone, 26-25. The winning-point for Ateneo came from UP’s scrambled defense and miscommunication, ending the set and the match at 26-24.
Valdez finished the match with 19 points while Ahomiro contributed 14. Julia Morado distributed the ball well once again, tallying 26 excellent sets that opened opportunities for other Lady Spikers such as De Jesus, Tejada and Tajima to record eight, seven and six points respectively.
The win improves Ateneo’s win-loss record to 6-3 and halts their two-game losing skid as the squad seeks to overtake National University (NU) for second place in the team standings. The Lady Spikers’ next game will be on Sunday, January 26, 4pm against the very same NU Lady Bulldogs.
Assistant coach, Parley Tupas shared after the game that the team’s mindset for their crucial showdown with NU is simple, “Matigil namin ang dalawang Santiago (To be able to stop the two Santiago’s).”
Box Scores:
ATENEO – Valdez 19, Ahomiro 14, De Jesus 8, Tejada 7, Tajima 6, Morado 5, Morente 3, B. Tan 1
UP – Araneta 8, Tiamzon 5, Calugcug 4, Espinosa 3, Layug 3
