THE ATENEO Blue and Lady Eagles’ kicked off their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 79 campaign on Saturday, October 8 at the Blue Eagle Gym in Loyola Heights, Quezon City.

The Lady Eagles

The Lady Eagles struggled in the first two match ups where they faced University of Santo Tomas (UST) and the University of the Philippines (UP). In the singles matches against UST, Hellari Calvo lost in straight sets while Team Captain Nikki Reyes was defeated in four sets followed by a straight set defeat for the doubles pair, Beatrice Chua and Noreen Ganaban.

In the match up against UP, Calvo and Reyes were defeated in 3 sets and 4 sets, respectively while the doubles pair in Patricia Kime and Beatrice Chua were outmatched as they lost in three sets to their UP counterparts.

The Lady Eagles performed better in the last match up against NU. Although Trina Cruz lost in straight sets against UP’s Santiago, Calvo evened the score as she comfortably took the fourth set 11-4 to take the match.

In the doubles match, Chua and Ganaban were outmatched by the their NU counterparts, Sardalla and Jadloc, as they lost in straight sets. However, Reyes came from behind to defeat UP’s Buendia in five sets to extend the match up. In the fifth and deciding match, Sofia Ubaldo, who played for the first time in the day, was no match for her NU counterpart as she lost the third set 2-11 and consequently the match.

According to Hellari Calvo, the team needs to gain more confidence in the next matches. “Siyempre pag-pressured ka hindi ka makakabigay ng good performance (Of course, when you’re pressured you won’t be able to perform well),” she said.

Despite the narrow defeat in the last match up, Calvo remained optimistic heading into day 2 of the tournament. “Para sa amin that’s a big deal na compared to kanina (For us, that [a 2-3 loss] is a big deal compared to earlier [0-3, 03 results]),” she said.

The Blue Eagles

Like the Lady Eagles, the blue paddlers were swept in the first two team events against National University (NU) and University of Santo Tomas (UST), respectively. In the first and second singles matches against NU, Team Captain David Dayao and Jolo Matias lost in straight sets while the doubles pair, Kyle Lao and James Somontina, lost in similar fashion.

In the match against UST, Matias replaced Dayao as the first singles match while Pao Rosete played in the second singles match. Although Matias was able to take a 2-1 lead, the pressure of Nayre’s offense paid off as forced Matias to hit his return out to win the fifth set. Meanwhile, Pao Rosete was outmatched as UST’s Ablanque won in straight sets. Mikey Lagasca paired up with Lao for the doubles match where they came close to securing the second and third sets which ended 10-12. Ultimately, however, the first two matches ended without a win for the Blue Eagles.

In the matchup against Adamson (ADU), however, the Blue Eagles came alive as Matias comfortably defeated ADU’s Balanquit in straight sets. Dayao also had an early 2-0 lead. Despite this lead, however, ADU’s Coraza rallied back to take 3 sets in a row. Afterwards, Lagasca and Lao won a tight first set, 13-11, but would falter as they lost the next three sets behind a solid offensive performances by the ADU pair Octavio and Enal.

In the third singles match, however, Pao Rosete’s attacking performance won him the first two sets. After losing the third set, he secured the match by forcing an error on the ADU side. In the deciding match, however, James Somontina dropped his first two sets against ADU’s Fernandez. Although he forced an error off Fernandez to win the third set, he ultimately lost in the fourth set, 5-11.

For majority of the matches, both the blue and lady paddlers were able to compete early on in set, faltering only in the latter stages of the sets. However, Coach Ting Ledesma remains hungry for a win. “We’re not playing for experience,” he said. “We’re playing to win.”

The results after day 1 put the Blue and Lady Eagles at 0-3 records in the elimination round standings of the UAAP table tennis tournament.

Day 2 will begin Sunday, October 8 at the Blue Eagle Gym in Loyola Heights, Quezon City.