THE ATENEO Blue Eagles swept the Adamson University Soaring Falcons (AdU) in three sets, 25-17, 25-16, 25-20 today, February 11, at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.
The Blue Eagles currently stand undefeated on top of the league with a 4-0 record in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 79 Men’s Volleyball tournament.
The first set started off close but Ateneo was able to muster a two-point lead going into the first technical timeout. The Blue Eagles would then go on an 8-2 scoring run led by Marck Espejo which saw Ateneo double up their rivals’ score heading into the second technical timeout, 16-8. Adamson tried to fight back but ultimately lost the first set as the Blue Eagles closed it out, 25-17.
The second set saw Ateneo pull away early with the score reading 8-2 at the first technical timeout. Further into the set, with the lead insurmountable, Ateneo’s coach, Oliver Almadro, substituted in rookie Chumason Njigha who made his UAAP debut, but was unable to score on a quick play set by Ish Polvorosa in his first UAAP play. Ateneo remained in control over the entire set, winning 25-16.
The third set was a different story, as Adamson fought hard to keep the score lines close, being only down by two at the first technical timeout. Ateneo eventually broke away after the second technical timeout with the Blue Eagles offense gelling well, with Espejo even finding an opportunity to set to Tony Koyfman who hammered it home with a cross-court spike. Espejo would go on to finish the match by spiking the ball straight down with no blocking coverage whatsoever to seal the 5 point 3rd set win.
Espejo finished the game with a season-high 22 points and 10 excellent receives. Josh Villanueva also recorded four blocks on the road to 9 points while Rex Intal got three blocks to go along with his 9 spikes.
“Everyone played well,” says head coach Oliver Almadro, who, like starting libero Manuel Sumanguid, has been fighting against a fever. For the past three years , Adamson used to be Ateneo’s first loss, which prompted the team to prepare well for the game. “We really hope na tumaas yung level namin every game” (We really hope that our level of play rises with every game), remarked the head coach.
Ateneo will be facing the winless University of the East in their next game on Wednesday, February 22, 8am, at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.
Blue Eagles finally break the curse, defeat Adamson in the first round for the first time in three years
https://storify.com/TheGUIDONSports/uaap-season-79-men-s-volleyball
