FURTHER CEMENTING their status atop the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 81 Women’s Volleyball Tournament standings, the Ateneo Lady Eagles trounced the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in straight sets, 25-21, 25-10, 25-18, on Wednesday, April 3, at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Head Coach Oliver Almadro decided to start Deanna Wong, Kat Tolentino, Maddie Madayag, Bea De Leon, Ponggay Gaston, Jules Samonte, and Kim Gequillana at libero. Reserve libero Dani Ravena and rookie Vanie Gandler also made appearances off the bench.
Gaston and Tolentino both scored 11 points from nine spikes each to lead the game in scoring. Season 80 Best Setter Wong also tallied 30 excellent sets in the straight-set beatdown.
Errors plagued both teams at the start of the first set, keeping the game close as either side struggled to find their feet until the first technical timeout (TTO), 8-7. Gaston pushed the Lady Eagles’ offense after nailing back-to-back spikes to give Ateneo a five-point advantage, 17-12. The Lady Tamaraws managed to pull level in the set after making a four-point run of their own, 21-21, however, the Blue and White prevented any more FEU attacks and closed out the set after a Tamaraw attack error, 25-21.
[1st set] The Lady Eagles take the first set after FEU's spike goes long.
Ateneo 25 FEU 21#UAAPVolleyball pic.twitter.com/412i5uE0Dw
— Ally Crespo (@Ally_TheGUIDON) April 3, 2019
Gaining momentum from the first set, the Lady Eagles started the second set with a 6-0 run after a massive spike from Tolentino and back-to-back aces from Wong. Scrambled and unbalanced, the Lady Tamaraws continued to make errors and already looked down and out, 14-2. Past the second TTO, Gaston and Samonte continued to land attacks behind Wong’s genius setting until Tolentino finally handed the set to Ateneo with a cross-court kill, 25-10.
[2nd set] Tolentino flies high to end the second set in favor of the Lady Eagles.
Second set score: Ateneo 25 FEU 10
Set score: Ateneo 2 FEU 0#UAAPVolleyball pic.twitter.com/JO0uwk9eqF— Ally Crespo (@Ally_TheGUIDON) April 3, 2019
Despite gaining a 3-0 lead starting the third set, the Katipunan-based squad fell behind FEU by the first TTO, 5-8, after Tamaraw middles Jemili Malabanan and Czarina Carandang each made two spikes and two aces. Gandler and Ravena came in for Samonte and Gequillana to great effect, as the Blue and White took the lead, 12-10. FEU failed to find ways to stop a synchronized Ateneo with a kill block from De Leon sealing the three-set victory, 25-18.
[3rd set] FEU is unable to contain De Leon's block. The Lady Eagles take the third set and the match!
Ateneo 25 FEU 18#UAAPVolleyball pic.twitter.com/PunjddU4lv
— Ally Crespo (@Ally_TheGUIDON) April 3, 2019
Asked about their improvement against FEU after just surviving the Lady Tamaraws in five sets, Tolentino responded, “It just shows that our hard work is paying off and that it doesn’t matter what happened in the past and it doesn’t matter what happened last season [but] it’s really how you deal with it now.”
The Lady Eagles hope to continue their nine-game winning streak against the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs on Sunday, April 7 at 4:00 PM at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, Quezon City.
Set Score:
Ateneo-FEU: 25-21, 25-10, 25-18
Photo courtesy of Janine Torre
