THE ATENEO Lady Eagles earned their third consecutive victory by defeating the Adamson University (AdU) Lady Falcons, 3-2, with set scores of 25-18, 14-25, 25-18, 15-25, and 15-10 on Wednesday, February 21, at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
With this win, the Lady Eagles see themselves move to a 3-2 win-loss standing in Season 80 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Women’s Volleyball tournament.
On offense, the Lady Eagles were well-rounded, as the team saw four players score in double-digits for the third consecutive time. Jho Maraguinot led the team in scoring 15 points while Jules Samonte and Team Captain Maddie Madayag put up 14 points each. Kat Tolentino then served as the fourth leading scorer with 10 points off the bench. The Lady Eagles also had 15 kill blocks in the competition.
In the first set, the Lady Eagles found themselves entering the first technical timeout (TTO) trailing AdU by three (5-8). Eventually, they were able to draw level with the Lady Falcons at 10-10 with the help of three consecutive service aces from Madayag, and build a three-point lead by the second TTO (16-13). The Lady Eagles would go on to claim the first set at 25-18 with Adamson failing to register a single block on the Katipunan-based side. The Lady Eagles also put up seven service aces in the set.
The Lady Eagles then opened the second set on the receiving end of an 8-2 Adamson scoring run. Entering the second TTO, the Blue and White found the deficit increase to seven with unforced errors playing a big part (9-16). An attack error would befall the set for the Lady Eagles at 14-25 for Adamson to tie the match at one set apiece.
The third set was tightly contested with the Lady Eagles entering the first TTO with a one-point advantage (8-7). A late 8-2 scoring run from the Lady Eagles, however, would break the deadlock between the two teams as the Blue and White eventually claimed the set (25-18).
Errors plagued the Lady Eagles in the fourth set, entering the second TTO and trailing by six (10-16). The Lady Eagles were then unable to shake off the slump as they put up four more team errors to eventually lose the set at 15-25.
In the fifth and final set, Lady Eagles found themselves holding on to a two-point advantage (8-6) as they switched courts. The Ateneo side then deployed a series of superb stops and digs to keep the Adamson offense at bay. A three-point run capped off by a Madayag block at match point finished the match for the Lady Eagles (15-10).
[5th set] Madayag finishes the match with a huge block! Ateneo wins it in five sets!
Ateneo 15 AdU 10#UAAPVolleyball pic.twitter.com/Su2rYP6Kdt
— James Gavina (@James_TheGUIDON) February 21, 2018
After the match, Madayag spoke about how the team’s resilience and fighting spirit worked in the team’s favor for the team’s first five-set victory of the season, “Ipinakita talaga namin na lumaban talaga kami, as compared [to the other games] (We showed that we are more than capable to put up a fight, as compared to the other games).”
The Lady Eagles will go up against their Katipunan-based rivals, the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons, on Sunday, February 25, 2:00 PM at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Set Scores
Ateneo-AdU: 25-18, 14-25, 25-18, 15-25, and 15-10
Box Score
Ateneo: Maraguinot – 15, Madayag – 14, Samonte – 14, Tolentino– 10, de Leon – 8, Wong – 6, Gaston – 3
AdU: Soyud- 19, Galanza- 12, Permentilla- 9, Dacoron- 9, Paat- 8, Emnas- 4, Perez- 3, Ponce- 1
