THE ATENEO Lady Eagles defeated the University of the Philippines (UP) Lady Maroons in straight sets, 25-23, 25-16, 25-23 in the 81st season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Women’s Volleyball Tournament on Sunday, March 30 at the SM Mall of Asia Arena.

Lady Eagles Head Coach Oliver Almadro fielded his usual starting lineup of Deanna Wong, Kat Tolentino, Maddie Madayag, Bea De Leon, Ponggay Gaston, Jules Samonte, and Kim Gequillana at libero. Rookies Vanie Gandler, Erika Raagas, and Jaja Maraguinot also saw action.

Once again, Tolentino was the Lady Eagles’ top scorer with a total of 15 points, with Madayag’s three sharp service aces and de Leon’s three kill blocks coming in support.

The match began with an attack error from De Leon, but she quickly made up for it as Ateneo’s team captain scored the first point for the Lady Eagles after a back quick spike, 1-1. Ateneo then caught up to the Lady Maroons with a 3-0 run to tie the match courtesy of an ace from Madayag to even the score out at 7-all. The rest of the first set remained to be a back-and-forth affair, with no lead surpassing three points on either side. With the pressure mounting, a crucial UP net touch violation committed with the score at 22-20 forced UP to call a timeout. Composure won out for the Lady Eagles thereafter as the Lady Maroons succumbed to a service error to hand over the first set victory to Ateneo, 25-23.

Momentum stayed in favor of the Blue and White as the first four points went Ateneo’s way, 4-0, two of which came from Tolentino’s powerful spikes.

Tragedy struck the squad from Diliman, however, as UP stalwart Isa Molde was carried out on a stretcher after slamming her knee on Mary Bautista’s back as she came down from her spike approach, 5-1. Shaken up from the incident, the Lady Maroons struggled as Ateneo continued to pile up the points. UP’s starters all took to the bench, leaving fresh UP faces on the court. Ateneo continued to build momentum, leading by as much 10 points, 16-6, going into the second technical timeout (TTO) as Bautista was unable to control Tolentino’s backrow attack. The second set ended with another point from Tolentino, 25-16.

The Lady Maroons started the third set with back-to-back points before a service error from Tots Carlos awarded Ateneo their first point, 1-2. The Lady Eagles led UP into the first TTO, 8-5, through another sharp ace from Madayag. The Lady Maroons then took the lead away from Ateneo for the first time since the first set at 14-15 but the Lady Eagles hustled their way to take the lead after an attack error from UP, 16-15. Points continued to be fired from both sides of the court before the Lady Eagles blazed on a 3-0 run which ended with a huge block from Samonte that forced UP to talk things over, 21-20. The Lady Maroon’s hopes were snuffed out after Samonte ended the match with a powerful crosscourt kill, 25-23.

With this win, the Lady Eagles maintain their spot ahead of  the pack with a 8-1 record.

Ateneo will look to build on their eight-game winning streak on Wednesday, April 3 at 4:00 PM against the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan City.

Set Score:

Ateneo-UP: 25-23, 25-16, 25-23

Photo by Joshua Tan