THE ATENEO Blue Eagles continue in their pursuit to defend the championship title, as they defeat fellow Katipunan UAAP team, the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons in straight sets, 25-21, 25-18, 25-12, on Monday, August 29, 2016 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.
The Blue Eagles continue on with 5-0 win-loss record in the Group B of the Spiker’s Turf Tournament.
The Blue and White of Katipunan drew first blood as Ish Polvorosa earned the first point with a service ace, which was able to set the pace to how he would perform in his serves in the following sequences. Although a see-saw battle emerged due to attack errors from both sides, Ateneo failed for a short while in their defenses as UP took a three-point advantage (7-10). However, Polvorosa incurs two service aces, bringing the advantage back home and attackers, Marck Espejo, Karl Baysa and Ron Medalla finished the set.
The second set featured a stronger Ateneo team, redeeming themselves from their slow start in the first set. The Blue Eagles led with a seven-point advantage by the first technical time-out with the Maroons failing to receive Tony Koyfman’s attacks. But with Maroon Guest player Hans Chuacuco entering the game, UP was able to decrease the lead with his quick cross-court attacks. However, the attack errors committed by the Maroons in the latter part of the set allowed Ateneo to take the second set as well.
Hoping for the third set to be their last, the Blue Eagles stepped up in their attacks and took the advantage throughout the set. Medalla comes in improving in both attacks and defense that helped extend the lead of Ateneo to 22-8. The following errors called on the Maroons allowed Ateneo to reach the set point and former team captain and Blue Eagle Ysay Marasigan takes the match for his team once again.
With Espejo recovering from a week-long flu, Koyfman emerged as the best scorer of the Blue and White, contributing 10 points in offensive output. Espejo and Villanueva followed by contributing 8 points each and the former also displayed great defense with 7 excellent digs.
Coach Oliver Almadro remains proud of his squad reminding them to keep their intensity up in the game always. The Blue Eagle coach looks to improving his players’ skills in the different positions and letting his usual benched players step up.
“They should not think that in this game or that we are ahead, that it is okay to be relaxed,” says Coach Almadro. “[But] I’m telling that the intensity should always be up, whether you’re coming from the bench or if you’re a starter.
The next opponent of the Blue Eagle will either be the National University Bulldogs or the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, which will be dependent on their games on Wednesday, August 31, 2016.
Box Scores:
Ateneo: Koyfman-10, Espejo- 8, Villanueva-8, Medalla-7, Intal-7, Polvorosa-5, Baysa-2, Glorioso-2, Marasigan-1
UP: Millete-7, Chuacuco-5, San Pedro-4, San Pascual-4, Consuelo-2, Castillo-2, Valbuena-1, Trinidad-1, Acuna-1