THE ATENEO Lady Eagles defeated the Technological Institute of the Philippines (TIP) Engineers in three straight sets, 25- 16, 25- 14, and 25- 13 on Saturday, August 8 at the Fil Oil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
This win puts the lady spikers at 5-0 in the elimination round standings of the Shakey’s V-League tournament.
Although lady spiker Amy Ahomiro opened the first set of the game, it was a close fight between the Lady Eagles and the Engineers as both teams committed several back-to-back errors. However, the Blue and White were able to redeem themselves by extending the lead to a maximum of 11 points. Due to a distribution error by TIP, the first set of the match went to the Lady Eagles.
The second set featured Ahomiro’s power-packed spikes, as they took three consecutive points in the first part of the set. Maddie Madayag bested the team with five service aces in the game, where two of them were made consecutively in the second set. After the substitution of Bea de Leon with Pamela Dungo, the latter made a service ace which gave the set to the Blue and White.
The last set began with an unfortunate score of 0-4, as the Engineers took advantage of the errors committed by the Lady Eagles. However, the Katipunan-based team fought back with an 11-point attack streak. With Alyssa Valdez backing the team with her powerful spikes, and with the continuous errors and violations committed by the opponent, the team was able to take the game in its third set.
Valdez led the Blue and White with 16 points in attacks and 22 digs, while De Leon followed Valdez’s offensive output with nine points. Gizelle Tan was announced to be the Player of the Game, as she was able to distribute a total of 21 excellent sets.
“I got surprised honestly because I didn’t know that they would announce it this early in the game,” said Tan. “Winning will be our goal for the next game, but we have to work hard for it.”
Ateneo: Valdez-16, De Leon-9, Madayag-8, Ahomiro-7, Maraguinot-6, Gequillana-3, De Jesus-1, Dungo-1, Tianco-William-1
TIP: Acuna-6, Espinosa-3, Mabayao-2, Layug-2, Fidel-1, Dela Cruz-1, Verano-1
Updated 21:07, August 8, 2015