WITHOUT TEAM captain Bea De Leon and veteran Maddie Madayag in the lineup, the Ateneo Lady Eagles fell to the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in four sets, 25-17, 21-25, 19-25, 14-25, on Saturday, September 9, at the FilOil Flying V Center in San Juan City.
The Lady Eagles now hold a record of 1-1 in the inaugural season of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Women’s Collegiate Conference.
De Leon was unavailable due to academic commitments, while Madayag was suffering from a minor ankle sprain. Head coach Tai Bundit opted to begin with Ponggay Gaston and Jules Samonte in place of the missing veterans. The rest of the starting lineup included Deanna Wong, Kat Tolentino, Jhoana Maraguinot, and Kim Gequillana, with Janelle Lo as the team’s libero. Rookie Sydney Eleazar also suited up as libero.
Maraguinot was Ateneo’s top scorer with 16 points, three of which were service aces. Wong racked up 42 of 98 excellent sets despite the absence of her starting middle blockers. However, limited options made the attacks of the Lady Eagles fairly inefficient with only 30 of their 151 attack attempts translating into points.
In the first set, Ateneo took an early three-point lead thanks to a service ace by Maraguinot, which forced FEU to burn a timeout (7-4). The Lady Tamaraws attempted a comeback, but the Katipunan-based squad remained ahead after a successful quick attack by Gaston (16-13). Late in the set, a Tolentino service ace was the dagger that allowed the Lady Eagles pull away (22-15). A kill block by Gaston then won the opening set for Ateneo (25-17).
With momentum on their side, the Lady Eagles once again led early as a result of another service ace by Maraguinot (7-5). Heading into the second technical timeout, Gaston garnered two service aces to further extend the lead (16-12). Unfortunately, the Lady Tamaraws made a quick comeback to lead by two as a lob over Lo forced an Ateneo timeout (18-20). Further errors by Ateneo and back-to-back service aces by FEU closed out the set for the Lady Tamaraws (21-25).
The Lady Eagles squad struggled to get early points in the third set. A quick attack by FEU extended the early deficit to four points (3-7). With a comeback on the horizon, tragedy struck the Katipunan-based squad as Gequillana, who played as a spiker throughout the match, landed awkwardly and fell to the floor clutching her knee. Bettina Abella, Gequillana’s substitute, recorded a kill block to tie the game further (15-15). However, without Gequillana, the team struggled as a strong FEU kill against late blockers ended the set (19-25).
In the fourth set, Tolentino was rejected in back-to-back rallies to extend the FEU lead to five heading into the first technical timeout (3-8). The margin was widened to nine points due to a cross-court attack that went through an Ateneo double block (8-17). The Blue and White eventually surrendered the set and the match after a Tolentino service error (14-25).
“Gusto namin, laging number one. ‘Yun ‘yung motivation namin para hindi sila magre-relax (What we want is to always be number one. That’s the motivation so that they’re not going to be too relaxed),” said FEU head coach George Pascua after the game.
The next game for the Lady Eagles will be on Saturday, September 16, at the FilOil Flying V Center in San Juan City against the Lyceum of the Philippines University (LPU) Lady Pirates.
Box Scores
Ateneo: Maraguinot – 16, Tolentino – 13, Gaston – 7, Samonte – 5, Wong – 2, Abella – 2, Gequillana – 2
FEU: Pons – 16, Basas – 15, Villareal – 13, Domingo – 9, Guino-o – 4, Malabanan – 3, Negrito – 2, Cayuna – 1, Atienza – 1
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