THE ATENEO Lady Eagles started their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Beach Volleyball campaign splitting their two matches, losing against Far Eastern University (FEU) but defeating the University of the East (UE) last Thursday, October 5, at SM Sands by the Bay in Pasay.
UAAP Indoor Volleyball Season 79 Rookie of the Year Jules Samonte was chosen to replace Kim Gequillana who had suffered a knee injury in a Premier Volleyball League Collegiate Conference game. Alongside her was captain Bea De Leon and Ana Gopico who served as the duo’s reserve.
The Ateneo duo of De Leon and Samonte began Season 80 against FEU’s Bernadeth Pons and Kim Atienza. The Lady Eagles fell behind early, 1-4, due to strong attacks by Pons. Ateneo was then able to come within one, 4-5, after a well-placed hit by Samonte.
The Lady Tams, however, blasted the Lady Eagles with a 9-3 run with point after point coming off service aces by Atienza to take a 14-7 lead heading into the second technical timeout. From then on, the FEU attack continued to steamroll Ateneo as the Lady Eagles dropped the first set, 8-21.
In the second set, receiving errors continued to hamper the Lady Eagles as they fell behind 4-9 after another Atienza service ace. The Lady Eagles showed resolve once again as Samonte scored a service ace of her own to cut the lead to three, 10-13. However, the Lady Tamaraws again went on a spirited 5-0 capped by Pons winning a joust at the net with De Leon to take a commanding 18-10 advantage. Despite Ateneo making up some lost ground, a De Leon service error spelled Ateneo to lose the set, 14-21, and the match to FEU.
Due to multiple matches going to three sets, the last game of the day between the Lady Eagles and the UE Lady Warriors began around midnight. UE’s Judith Abil and Angelica Dacaymat took the first set, 17-21, thanks to an early scoring run that the Blue and White were unable to recover from.
The second set was more competitive. With both teams tied at 20-20, consecutive attack errors by UE surrendered the set 22-20.
With both teams fatigued after a grueling day of playing on the sand, the third set proved to be a test of wits and endurance. UE’s strategy was to target Samonte so as to avoid dealing with De Leon’s extremely deadly spikes. This strategy did not work well for them, however, as Samonte rose to the occasion and even scored the last point of the set with a spike that split the UE defenders, 15-10.
The next game of the Lady Eagles will be on Friday, October 6, against the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Lady Tigresses.
Set Scores
Ateneo vs FEU: 8-21, 14-21
Ateneo vs UE: 17-21, 22-20, 15-10
