THE ATENEO Lady Eagles were defeated by the Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws in five sets, 25-10, 23-25, 22-25, 25-12, 8-15 in the 81st season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Women’s Volleyball Tournament semi-finals on Saturday, May 4, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.

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, Jaja Maraguinot, and Erika Raagas also made appearances in the match.

Tolentino led the team in scoring with 21 points off 17 spikes, three blocks, and an ace. The team cumulatively scored 17 points from the service line, with De Leon scoring five service aces and Madayag notching four. Wong orchestrated the offense while helping the team on defense with 26 excellent sets and 21 excellent digs. FEU’s libero Ria Duremdes recorded 44 excellent digs and helped keep Samonte 0/24  in the spiking department.

The Lady Eagles immediately put their stamp on the first set, justifying their top seed position by limiting FEU to a solitary attack point. Wong’s service ace sprang Ateneo to a 5-0 run to start off the opening set. Tolentino and De Leon starred for the Blue and White in the succeeding rallies but errors from the Lady Eagles kept the FEU in the game at 11-6. Samonte’s serve caused plenty of headache for the Tamaraws’ receivers as her stint in the service line resulted into a 7-0 blitz, 18-6. Another 5-0 run by the Loyola side, capped off by a quick spike from De Leon, closed out the set, 25-10.

Contrary to the first set, the Tamaraws were able to regroup and contain the Ateneo offense. Tolentino’s kill off the block led to the first technical timeout (TTO), 8-5, but FEU managed to keep themselves afloat after. They claimed the lead through a 5-0 run after the second TTO behind Malabanan’s back-to-back attacks, 16-19. The Lady Eagles tied the game at 20 but Gaston’s spike only met the net, allowing the Tamaraws to take the second set, 23-25.

A bright start to the third set gave the Blue and White a 10-5 advantage after Gaston’s off the block kill. However, the lead was erased when the Tamaraws put up a 6-0 run highlighted by a pair of services aces from France Ronquillo, 11-12. With both teams even at 17, FEU broke the deadlock by again going on another run, putting them ahead at 17-22. The Lady Eagles were able to salvage three set points but a service error by Wong gave the Tamaraws an easy out, 22-25.

The Lady Eagles started off on fire in the fourth set as a 7-1 scoring run put them up by five, 7-2. Coming off a timeout later in the game, sharp serving allowed the Blue and White to go on a 12-2 scoring run to push the lead to 12, 23-11. A kill from Gaston and a service ace by De Leon to the area between zones one and six extended the match to a fifth set, 25-12.

Despite momentum on Ateneo’s side, a kill off the block by Tolentino and another service ace by De Leon put the Katipunan-based side up by two, 4-2. However, a 4-0 scoring run by the Lady Tamaraws forced Ateneo to call a timeout, 5-7. Consecutive errors from FEU tied the score but disaster struck for the Blue and White when they failed to respond to FEU’s 6-0 run, 7-13. A block by Madayag stopped the bleeding but attack errors by De Leon and Samonte ended the match, 8-15.

After the game, Coach Almadro requested the media not to interview the coaching staff and the players.

The Lady Eagles will play FEU in a do-or-die game on Wednesday at the FilOil Flying V Centre.

Set Score:

Ateneo-FEU: 25-10, 23-25, 22-25, 25-12, 8-15

Photo by James B. Gavina