THE ATENEO Blue Eagles shook the competition and defeated the Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals is four sets, 25-23, 26-28, 25-20, 25-17 on Saturday, August 6, 2016 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
Into their second game in the Spikers’ Turf tournament, the Blue Eagles extended their winning streak to 2-0.
The Emilio Aguinaldo College Generals drew first blood by taking advantage over Blue Eagle Marck Espejo’s powerful spike that sailed wide. The Generals led the set due to the errors committed by the Blue Eagles with serves falling short and attacks that result to errors. However, with a lifting violation on the Generals and a service ace by Josh Villanueva, the Blue Eagles were able to take the lead (19-17). Both teams pulled off a seesaw battle until Rex Intal made a service ace and team captain Karl Baysa takes the first set with a spike in the middle.
The second set featured a closer fight as the Blue Eagles opened the set with a mix of successful attacks and errors. With the opposing team’s best scorers Israel Encina and Kerth Melliza contributing to most of the attacks, Blue Eagle attackers Espejo and Ron Medalla stepped up to extend the set point to 26-27. However, the Generals unleashed a powerful team block that surely denied Medalla’s incoming attack to take the set.
The EAC Generals looked confident in the third set as they took the first three points featuring Encina’s lethal crosscourt shots. In order to boost the team’s morale, Intal and Villanueva responded quickly to the sets passed to them that enabled Ateneo to gain the advantage by the first technical timeout (8-7). Although EAC took the lead due to errors from the Ateneo side, the Katipunan-based squad pulled off a 9-point run to lead the set until Villanueva ended it with a successful attack.
As the Blue and White got back in the game, the Generals incurred more errors that allowed Ateneo to extend to a four-point lead by the first technical timeout (8-4). The game closes in featuring Espejo in full throttle with faster and more powerful spikes on the General’s court. With team effort in putting on a good defensive play, the Blue Eagles took the match at 25-17.
Top scorer of the game, Espejo, led the Blue Eagles with 16 points in total offensive output. Intal followed closely with 14 points and Villanueva was able to contribute 12 points in attacks and two service aces.
Head Coach Oliver Almadro laments that his squad was initially taken aback by the constant jeering by the EAC Generals in the first two sets. “I told them that we have to fight back not with rude trash talk also, but if they give you one, you give them one also but not in a rude way,” says Coach Almadro. “We have to show them that we have a big heart here—a champion heart.”
Box Scores:
Ateneo: Espejo-16, Intal-14, Villanueva-12, Baysa-8, Koyfman-8, Medalla-5, Polvorosa-4
EAC: Encina-15, Melliza-12, Rasing-8, Bihag-3, Mina-3, Item-3, Gerella-1, Gorospe-1, Lim-1
