THE ATENEO Lady Eagles surrenders the crown back to the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers in a 4-set thriller, 25- 19, 21- 25, 16- 25, 16- 25 on Wednesday, April 30, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.

This crucial face-off was a major deciding factor in making the history of a three-peat championship title from the Lady Eagles or a reclaiming of the title by the DLSU Lady Spikers, which ended in favor of the latter.

Outgoing UAAP key player Alyssa Valdez led the Blue and White with an outstanding score of 31 points, with 30 of them being vicious spikes from the Phenom. Valdez also continued to top the whole game in offensive output contributions. Jho Maraguinot followed with 10 points and Bea de Leon with seven points in attacks.

The Lady Eagles drew first blood by owing their first seven points of the set to Valdez before the DLSU Lady Spikers could score their first point. The team focused on attacks and flawlessly handled the receptions from the incoming attacks of the opponent. The set ended in favor of the Lady Eagles with Maraguinot’s service ace.

With high hopes, Valdez opened the set again scoring for the Ateneo. However, the DLSU Lady Spikers viciously challenged the Lady Eagles, resulting in a tight see-saw battle between the two teams. The DLSU Lady Spikers took a 6-point lead with most of the contributions from DLSU Lady Spikers Kim Dy and Ara Galang in the middle of the set, which prompted the Lady Eagles to bounce back and race to tie the score. But due to the resulting errors from the Blue and White in the latter part of the set, the second set was taken by the DLSU Lady Spikers.

The last two sets featured the defensive skills and attack speed of the DLSU Lady Spikers, which put the Lady Eagles at an disadvantage. The Lady Eagles focused on their offensive output, but were unfortunately more prone to attack errors compared to those of the DLSU Lady Spikers. The Taft-based squad gave a full-blown exhibition of their skills in the last two sets and eventually dominated the Lady Eagles.

Although the game resulted in a disappointing loss, graduating player and outgoing Team Captain Alyssa Valdez celebrated her last game in the UAAP as the reigning 3-peat Most Valuable Player and Best Server awardee, as well as the 4-peat Best Scorer of the UAAP Women’s Volleyball.

Box Scores:

Ateneo: Valdez- 31, Maraguinot- 10, De Leon- 7, Morado- 6, Tajima- 2, Gequillana- 2, Ahomiro- 1

DLSU: Dy- 17, Baron- 11, Galang- 9, Reyes- 9, Demecillo- 9, Fajardo- 6