DESPITE MISSING the services of several key players, the Lady Spikers once again dominated their opponents as they defeated the San Sebastian Lady Stags in straight sets, 25-17, 25-13, and 25-21, to post another victory in the Collegiate Conference of the Shakey’s V-League last Sunday, July 19, at the San Juan Arena.

Bucking the absences of spiker Ella De Jesus (eye infection) and University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) best setter Jia Morado (knee injury), with back-to-back UAAP Most Valuable Player Alyssa Valdez only seeing action in the third and final set, the Lady Spikers had to work much more cohesively as a unit to be able to post their second straight victory in the 12-team tournament.

Jhoanna Maraguinot led the balanced scoring attack with 13 points en route to earning Player of the Game honors and was followed by the much-improved Kim Gequillana, who scored 11 points.

Aside from their equally-distributed offense, the size of the Lady Spikers, especially with the front line of Bea De Leon and Maddeline Madayag, frustrated the Lady Stags and pressured them into 30 unforced errors. With the absence of Morado, the Lady Spikers needed to find creative ways to generate scoring opportunities—often needing to rely on timely hits from both Maraguinot and Gequillana.

In spite of the dominant performance from the Lady Spikers, they committed 24 unforced errors, which allowed the Lady Stags to remain in striking distance especially in the third set. However, after being down 1-4 early in the last set, the Lady Spikers rallied behind Marguinot and the booming spikes of Valdez to finally build a comfortable margin to seal the game.

Box Score:

Ateneo 75 – Maraguinot 13, Gequillana 11, Valdez 5, Ahomiro 5, De Leon 4, Madayag 4, Sato 3.

San Sebastian 51 – Guillema 9, Labiano 9, Sinamban 4, Dalisay 3, Encarnacion 2.

Set Scores: 25-17, 25-13, 25-21.

With reports from Cedric B. Teng Ampo

UPDATED 17:40, July 20, 2015