THE ATENEO blue and lady shuttlers’ seasons both opened with a 4-1 loss against the University of the Philippines (UP) badminton team on Saturday, September 17, 2016 at Rizal Memorial Sports Complex in Manila City.
Both teams stand at a 0-1 win-loss record in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 79 badminton tournament.
Blue shuttlers
The blue shuttlers’ kicked off their season with the singles game between Ateneo’s Clarence Filart and UP’s John Matthew Bernardo. The game ended with a UP win, with Bernardo winning the match in two sets, 17-21 and 16-21.
The game was then succeeded by the singles match of Emilio Mangubat, who eventually secured the blue shuttlers’ lone victory of the day. Mangubat defeated UP’s Leonardo in two straight sets, 21-15 and 21-16.
The match was then followed by the first doubles match of the day with the pairing of Hans Bernardo and Carlo Remo representing the Blue and White. However, the pairing failed to follow up on Mangubat’s victory by losing in two sets, 15-21 and 19-21
The second doubles match commenced right after with the pairing of blue shuttlers Fides Bagasbas and Patrick Gecosala. The pair participated in a neck and-neck three-set thriller only to lose sets one and three to the scores of 14-21 and 22-24.
To end the day’s campaign was Team Captain Sean Chan, who played the last match in the men’s team-tie. In this third singles match, Chan lost in two sets, both with a score of 19-21.
Chan expresses his disappointment in his team’s performance in today’s opening game, which fell short of their expectations. “I would rate the overall performance of the team as really bad today. I [felt] like we were not able to give our best — not just individually, but as a team,” said Chan after the game. “I [felt] like our desire to win today was not as high as [how]we would have wanted it to be,” he also added.
Lady shuttlers
The lady shuttler’s team captain and badminton phenom Bianca Carlos drew first bood in the women’s team-tie against the UP Lady Maroons. Going against UP’s Alcala in the first singles match, Carlos trailed behind the Lady Maroon’s 5-0 run in the first set but was able to catch up and nab the win, 21-19. The second set featured the same pattern as Carlos continued to inch towards Alcala’s lead until the Maroon’s errors allowed Carlos to take the opening match of the lady shuttlers.
However, the second single’s match, Samantha Ramos faced UP’s Castillo in a difficult first set, ending the score at 21-8 in favor of the Maroons. Despite another loss in the second set, Ramos was able to tie the score at 5-5 and forced a 6-0 run after Castillo hit the match point (12-20).
The first doubles match in the third round of the team-tie featured the pairing of Geva De Vera and Trixie Malibiran, who heatedly exchanged rallies with UP’s Alcala and Francisco in the first set, but fell short to the Maroons with a score of 21-19. However, the UP tandem dominated the second set by the ending the match at 21-9.
Carlos and her pair, Chanelle Lunod, represented the Blue and White in the second doubles match. In both sets, the pair took the lead at the beginning, but Maroons Inlayo and Castillo strategized to focus their target on Lunod, preventing Carlos from backing up her partner towards the end of each set. The Lady Maroon pair took two sets from Lady Eagles, 21-17 and 21-18.
The final match of the day for the shuttlers featured Cassie Lim, who played in the singles event against Lady Maroon Bernardo. Lim kicked-off the set, dominating Bernardo until the Maroon raced up to the set point in the rest of the sequences. Hoping to enforce a third set, Lim fought a seesaw battle with Bernardo, but with Lim’s smashes landing beyond the singles line, Bernardo also took the last match for the UP Fighting Maroons.
Despite the loss of the Lady Eagles in the team-tie, Carlos remains positive and hopeful for the rest of the tournament, as this is just the opening game of the lady shuttlers. “I think each one of us played well, it was not our best, but we will bounce back and we still need a little push,” explains Carlos. “I guess it’s the mentality, mas kalaban namin ang mentality para we [will not] get scared and nervous,” she adds.
The blue and lady shuttlers will face the Far Eastern University Tamaraws, on Sunday, September 18, at 8AM in the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.