COMING OFF a dominant win against San Sebastian, the Ateneo Lady Eagles were eliminated by the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs in four sets, 21-25, 25-13, 19-25, 22-25, on Saturday, September 30, at the FilOil Flying V Center in San Juan City.
The Lady Eagles exit the elimination round of the inaugural season of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Women’s Collegiate Conference with a record of 3-2. Ateneo was denied a slot in the next round after the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws defeated the Lyceum of the Philippines Lady Pirates in four sets yesterday, October 2.
With Head Coach Tai Bundit currently in Thailand, Assistant Coach Sherwin Meneses took over in his place and started Deanna Wong, Jules Samonte, Kat Tolentino, Jhoana Maraguinot, Bea De Leon, and Maddie Madayag, with Sydney Eleazar at libero.
NU asserted their dominance early on and began the game with a 4-10 scoring run. The Blue and White were able to make a comeback as Tolentino’s service ace tied the game, 10-10. The Lady Eagles were able to go on a run of their own and even led by three thanks to Wong’s service ace, 16-13. Unfortunately, good plays by NU’s Jaja Santiago won back the lead, 17-19. With the score at 21-24, the last play involved an over receive on the serve that allowed Risa Sato to take set point with a two-handed tip, 21-25.
The Lady Eagles bounced back to start the second set as good blocking coupled with impressive floor defence gave Ateneo the early lead, 6-3. A block by De Leon widened the deficit to five, 9-4. Samonte’s service ace further into the set pushed the lead to eight, 18-10. The Lady Eagles capped off the set with a 7-3 run with De Leon taking set point with a service ace, 25-13.
The third set had the Blue and White pull away early to lead by three heading into the first technical timeout thanks to Tolentino’s tip in from an over receive by NU, 8-5. The Lady Bulldogs were able to cut the deficit, but a wide attack by Maraguinot tied the score, 12-12. NU’s run continued, forcing the Lady Eagles to call time after an impressive hit from Santiago to avoid the lone blocker, 14-18. Later into the set, Madayag seemed to have suffered from an ankle sprain and was replaced by Pauline Gaston after Santiago scored from a back row attack, 17-23. An over-reaching violation surrendered the set to NU, 19-25.
The Lady Bulldogs began the fourth set strongly with an 8-2 run. The Katipunan-based squad eventually tied the game and took the lead thanks to consecutive service aces from Gaston, 14-13. A strong kill by Maraguinot against the late block off a combination play widened the deficit to three, 17-14. The score was eventually tied, however, due to a short run led by NU’s offensive prowess, 20-20. NU’s setter Jasmine Nabor then score from the service line to bring her team to within two points of taking the match, 21-23. A successful double block on Maraguinot’s attack ended the set, 22-25.
“Test of wits,” commented NU Head Coach Raymund Castillo on the match. Coach Castillo also commended the girls for believing in the system put forth by the coaching staff. “We don’t aim for a sweep, we don’t give meaning to it,” said the head coach on his team’s unbeaten record.
Box Scores
Ateneo: Maraguinot – 14, Tolentino – 12, De Leon – 10, Samonte – 9, Wong – 6, Gaston – 2, Madayag – 1
NU: Singh– 17, Santiago – 12, Sato – 11, Paran – 10, Urdas – 8, Nabor – 5
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