In line with the ongoing University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 80 Men’s Volleyball tournament, this weekly series will analyze the state of the Ateneo Blue Eagles in their bid to win their fourth consecutive championship.
Recap of the week:
KEY ERRORS costed Ateneo a set in the battle of Katipunan against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, but the Blue and White were still able to win 25-21, 23-25, 27-25, 25-21, on Saturday, February 25 at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City. Despite the team surrendering 36 points off errors, reigning UAAP Most Valuable Player (MVP) Marck Espejo exploded for 30 points and recorded five blocks as well as four service aces to help power the Blue Eagles to victory.
Ish Polvorosa racked up 37 excellent sets in the Blue Eagles’ straight-set win against the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers, 25-16, 28-26, 25-22, on Saturday, March 3, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City. Ateneo was able to shut down Green Archers Arjay Onia and Raymark Woo who are 2nd and 4th top scorers in the league. The Blue Eagles’ defense kept Onia to just 10 points while Woo only recorded 11.
1. Service reception leading to a better offense
For the past two games, the Ateneo Blue Eagles have held a rate of 62% on excellent receives to lift their percentage for the first round as a whole to 51.1%. This level of receiving gives Polvorosa an easier time to create excellent sets as he no longer has to adjust to awkward or misplaced receives. Espejo, who is often targeted by serves, leads the team in this category with a 54.39% excellent receiving rate.
Libero Manuel Sumanguid has been unable to rack up as many excellent receives as he would like to as opposing teams will avoid targeting a skilled defender like Sumanguid who won the Best Libero award in the preseason Premier Volleyball League (PVL).
2. Ish Polvorosa, the ideal setter
The one person on the court who touches the ball on every rally is the setter, who is the playmaker of the team. However, while most setters possess high volleyball IQ, they lack the height to help out in blocking. In the UAAP, having a short setter blocking in the front line is a flaw that teams will try to exploit.
Polvorosa is endowed with both the height to block effectively, standing at 6’0”, and has the volleyball IQ to mastermind the Blue Eagle offense. On the defensive end, the four-time UAAP Best Setter has notched a total of nine blocks in the first round. On offense for the past two games, he has been averaging 11.71 excellent sets per set. To put this into perspective, DLSU setter Wayne Marco has been averaging only 8.57 excellent sets per set in his last two games against Adamson University and the Blue Eagles. In preseason, both these setters were tied at 10 excellent sets per set after the preliminaries of the Premier Volleyball League.
Upcoming games
Wednesday, March 7, 10:00 AM vs. De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers (3-4) at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Wednesday, March 14, 8:00 AM vs. Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons (2-5) at the Filoil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
First round analysis
With the Blue Eagle having wrapped up the first round with these two wins, let us take a look back at two constant trends that have helped the team build up their six-game winning streak.
1. The unstoppable Marck Espejo
The four-time UAAP MVP, 10-time MVP if you include Spikers’ Turf and the Premier Volleyball League, continues to dominate the league in his final season as a Blue Eagle. He used to wrestle control of the top spot in scoring with DLSU’s Woo and Onia, but after Ateneo’s strong defensive performance against the Green Archers, Woo and Onia remain pegged at 2nd at 126 points and 4th at 112 points respectively. Tied at 2nd with Onia is National University’s (NU) Bryan Bagunas with 126 points. Espejo meanwhile, posts tallies of 125 spikes, 14 kill blocks, and 11 service aces, which totals to 150 points for the first round.
Espejo is currently spiking at an extremely effective success rate of 49.80% and is has a firm grip on the top spot in this aspect. The closest player to Espejo in this category is Far Eastern University’s (FEU) John Paul Bugaoan who sits at 2nd with 45.88%. Espejo is also the best in the league in blocking among all non-middle blockers as he averages 0.58 blocks per set. This is enough to put him at 7th among all players in the league.
[2nd set] The Ateneo Blue Eagles take the second set after an ace from Espejo.
Ateneo 25 FEU 22#PVL (@jppareja13) pic.twitter.com/HuWpHrdXT0
— James Gavina (@James_TheGUIDON) October 14, 2017
Espejo’s jump serve is poetry in motion, but his high risk high reward style has also come with its costs. With his 11 service aces (average of 0.46 per set), Espejo leads the league in serving. However, among the top 10 in serving, he is also the leader in service faults with a total of 30. This inefficiency may be detrimental in the clutch as was seen in Ateneo’s second set against UP as the Fighting Maroons were able to take set point with a service error from Espejo after Ateneo’s 4-0 scoring run.
However, because Espejo’s thunderous serve strikes fear into anyone attempting to receive it, the psychological aspect may also play in part in the case for Espejo to stay true to his trademark serve.
2. Service specialists and their vital role in the team
In Ateneo Head Coach Oliver Almadro’s system, he utilizes two service specialists in rookie Jobok Morado, brother of former Lady Eagle Jia Morado, and veteran Pau Trinidad. Their numbers may not be impressive on the stat sheet as Trinidad has a total of two points and Morado has only one, but they serve a purpose greater than scoring aces.
Their deadly floaters are there to disrupt the offense of the opposing team. A difficult first ball typically leads to a bad set, which is either easy to block or easy to receive for the defense. Because of this, the Blue Eagles often go on scoring runs whenever one of the two is serving. Middle blockers Chu Njigha and Gian Glorioso are usually the ones substituted out when they rotate to the back row so that Trinidad and Morado can play as defensive specialists.
[2nd set] Morado with a service ace!
Ateneo 21 UE 16#UAAPVolleyball pic.twitter.com/ZL8ojW3fic
— Apa D. Aquino (@Apa_TheGUIDON) February 17, 2018
The defending champions currently have a six-game winning streak and seem to be back in championship form. With all cylinders firing and their tactical switch effective in keep opponents on their toes, the Blue Eagles will look to extend their current string of victories in the second round of Season 80.
