THE ATENEO Lady Eagles entered the fourth round of their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 Beach Volleyball campaign as they faced off with two teams on Tuesday, October 2, on the Sands at SM by the Bay in Pasay City.

The first game ended in a narrow victory for the Blue and White over the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons (21-16, 15-21, and 16-14). The second game against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraws was postponed to Friday, October 5, due to inclement weather conditions.

Ateneo vs UP

Ateneo and UP were neck-and-neck in the first set after a quick exchange of points by the two Katipunan-based squads. Ateneo eventually pulled away at the halfway point of the set, leading 11-7 after a number of tip shots by the Blue and White duo and a few attack errors by UP.

The Fighting Maroons came back from the deficit, scoring on a number of attacks to tie the game at 12 apiece. However, Ateneo stayed calm and continued to play smart by converting on soft, grounded shots to regain the lead at the 14-13 mark and eventually finish the set 21-16 with a cross-court by Gaston.

Both teams came out firing in the second set, keeping the scores tight in the opening stages. The Lady Eagles managed to string three consecutive points together with Gaston hammering down another cross-court hit to give Ateneo their first and only lead of the set, 8-5.

UP answered Ateneo’s scoring run with four points of their own, eventually leading at 8-9 off a Dorog ace. The Lady Maroons went on to complete the comeback, allowing Ateneo only seven more points to close the set, 15-21, with a Molde spike.

The Lady Eagles came out slow in the tiebreaker, taking a 1-5 deficit to open the third set. However, Ateneo did not back down as they found the gaps in UP’s game for multiple placement shots to tie the set, 5-5.

The Lady Eagles then went on an 8-4 run against the Maroons that gave them the commanding 13-9 lead in the game. Knowing that the set was almost over, Dorog caught fire with three tip shots and two aces to go on a personal 5-1 scoring battle against the Atenean duo, forcing a deuce with the Lady Eagles to extend the game.

After Dorog’s personal run, the Lady Maroons fell apart in the deuce round, giving up two quick points off attack errors to hand the Ateneo Lady Eagles their second win of the season.

Ateneo vs FEU

Later in the day, the Blue and White were set to face off against the FEU Lady Tamaraws. Midway through the first set, the referees called an official time-out due to inclement weather. The set score was 11-10 in favor of the Lady Eagles.

The rain did not subside as it continued to increase in strength with parts of the venue beginning to flood. After 45 minutes, the officials decided to postpone the game between Ateneo and FEU as well as the two games scheduled to be played after. The team is expected to play first thing in the morning on Friday, October 5 with the scores reset to 0-0.

The Ateneo Lady Eagles will look to extend their win streak in their next matches against FEU and the University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors on Friday, October 5, at the same venue.

Set Scores

Ateneo-UP: 21-16, 15-21, 16-14