WITH ALL but Kim Gequillana back in the lineup, the Ateneo Lady Eagles imposed their will on the San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R) Lady Stags in straight sets, 25-11, 25-13, 25-13, on Saturday, September 23, at the FilOil Flying V Center in San Juan City.
The Lady Eagles now have a record of 3-1 in the inaugural season of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Women’s Collegiate Conference.
With head coach Tai Bundit absent due to a fever, assistant coach Ed Ortega took over and fielded Deanna Wong, Jules Samonte, Kat Tolentino, Jhoana Maraguinot, Bea De Leon, and Maddie Madayag, with Sydney Eleazar at libero.
Samonte was the team’s top scorer at 12 points with three kill blocks while Wong had an excellent game from the service line and racked up a total of five service aces. Overall, the team performed well from the serve with a total of 14 aces for the game. They were also able to minimize their errors, recording only 13 conceded points.
Wong began the match with a service ace that sparked a 5-0 scoring run in the first set. Further into the set, the Lady Stags came back to cut the deficit to two thanks to a kill off the block by Dalisay (10-8). An off-speed down the line kill by Maraguinot instilled distance between the two teams (12-8). Thanks to Wong’s serves and excellent defense, the Lady Eagles went 13-3 to rest of the way to take the first set (25-11).
In the second set, a kill block by Wong gave the Blue and White a three-point lead heading into the first technical timeout (8-5). Maraguinot again sparked another run, this time with a through the block kill (17-11). The Lady Stags were only able to reach 13 points before De Leon ended the set with a block (25-13).
More aces from Wong and successful attacks by Ateneo allowed the team to take the early lead in the third set (9-2). Heading into the second technical time out, De Leon scored twice from the service line to widen the gap to ten (16-6). The Lady Stags were able to go on a short run, but it was ended by rookie Candace Gequillana’s spike off the net (18-10). The sister of the injured Kim Gequillana eventually took match point with a spike that avoided the lone blocker (25-13).
“Maayos ‘yung services namin (Our services were good),” commented assistant coach Ortega on his team’s performance, especially in the first set. He also emphasized the importance of building up the confidence of Wong since it is only her first year of being the team’s main setter.
The last match in the group stage for the Lady Eagles will be on Saturday, September 30, at the FilOil Flying V Center in San Juan City against the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs.
Box Scores
Ateneo: Samonte – 12, Tolentino – 9, De Leon – 9, Maraguinot – 8, Wong – 6, Madayag – 5, Gopico – 4, Gaston – 3, C. Gequillana – 2
SSC-R: Dalisay – 8, Encarnacion – 7, Sta. Rita –6, Santos – 2, Guillema – 1
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