The ATENEO Lady Eagles were defeated in today’s match by the reigning defending champions, the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers, in 4 sets, by scores of 21-25, 29-27, 25-22, 25-20 on Tuesday, May 2 at the SMART Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.

Today’s loss against the Lady Spikers sees the Blue and White consume their last and only available loss in this best-of-three finals series of the University Athletics Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 79 Women’s Volleyball tournament.

The first set saw an energized start from DLSU’s Majoy Baron, as the middle blocker quickly scored the Lady Spikers’ first three points. However, service errors from Kim Dy and Baron would soon see the Lady Spikers enter the first technical trailing by two (6-8). Eventually, errors would prove to be costly for DLSU as service errors, misreceptions and miscommunication errors would see the Green and White concede the first set at 25-21.

The second set however, saw the Lady Spikers enter the first technical timeout leading by one (8-7). Exiting the first technical timeout, unforced errors would soon come back to haunt the Lady Spikers as more service errors and poorly-hit spikes saw them enter the second technical timeout trailing by one (15-16). Bea de Leon and Jhoana Maraguinot would then come up huge for the Lady Eagles, as they went on to lead the Lady Spikers by five (22-17). However, DLSU Team Captain Kim Fajardo would soon go on to exhibit a captain’s performance, racking up points through her service aces and sets to see DLSU draw level at 22-all. Both sides would then continue to trade points until back-to-back errors from the Blue and White would soon gift the second set to the Lady Spikers at 29-27.

The third set then proved to be similar to the second, as a quick from Bea de Leon sent Ateneo into the second technical leading by one (16-15). However, Fajardo, Dy, and Ernestine Tiamzon would come up huge for the Lady Spikers as they went on to take the third set at 25-22.

Tiamzon would then continue her strong run of play as she delivered a ferocious crosscourt to send DLSU into the first technical leading by two (8-6). However, errors would seemingly come back to haunt the Green and White as Ateneo eventually found themselves leading the Lady Spikers by two at the second technical (16-14). Kim Fajardo, however, once again led her team to draw level at 18-all. Eventually, a 3-0 run capped off by a Kim Dy spike would see the Lady Spikers ice the set and match at 25-20.

Today’s match saw Jhoana Maraguinot lead the scoring for the Lady Eagles with 16 points. Bea de Leon finished as the Lady Eagles’ second top scorer of the match by putting up 14 points. Michelle Morente meanwhile, contributed by making 12 of the 28 excellent receptions of the team.

After the match, Bea de Leon admitted that she feels her team has what it takes to recover from today’s loss. “It’s not over, it’s just game one. We know we can do it based on our past games with La Salle. We’ll come back to training tomorrow and work a lot harder so we can bounce back on Saturday,” said de Leon.

The Lady Eagles will face off against the DLSU Lady Spikers in the second game of the finals series at 4PM on Saturday, May 6, at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao City.

Box Scores:

Ateneo: Maraguinot- 16, de Leon- 14, Morente- 11, Morado- 5, Gopico- 3, Madayag- 3, Tolentino- 2

DLSU: Tiamzon- 15, Dy- 14, Fajardo- 10, Cheng- 10, Baron- 8, Ogunsanya- 7, Luna- 2

The Ateneo Lady Eagles lose to the DLSU Green Archers in 4 sets, 21-25, 29-27, 25-22, 25-20.

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