TROUBLED BY errors throughout the match, the Ateneo-Fudgee Barr Blue Eagles suffered their third straight loss against the Santa Rosa City Red Lions (SRCL) in four sets, 20-25, 25-17, 17-25,23-25, in the Spiker’s Turf Open Conference earlier today at the Paco Arena in Manila City.
With their third consecutive loss in the tournament, the Blue Eagles remain in seventh place—last in the standings. Ateneo now holds a 0-3 record after this fourth day in the elimination round.
Maintaining their consistency from the previous game, Blue Eagles Kennedy Batas and Amil Pacinio poured in 15 and 14 points respectively to lead Ateneo in the scoring department. Fellow rookie Jian Salarazon contributed 10 points off two blocks and an ace, yet these were not enough to sustain the momentum on their side.
On the opposing end, SRCL’s Jade Disquitado led the Red Lions and chipped in 11 markers off 10 attacks. The Hernandez siblings, Chris Emmanuel and Kris Gabriel, followed suit with nine points apiece to hand the young high school team their first win of the tournament.
Ultimately, Ateneo’s early service errors gave SRCL a steady lead entering the first set. Despite the efforts of Pacinio and Jian Salarzon, Disquitado dominated with a rally of attacks, allowing the Lions to take the set.
The Blue Eagles eventually found their offensive rhythm and capitalized on SRCL’s numerous errors in order to clinch the second set. However, the Blue Eagles’ error problems resurfaced again entering the third set as Disquitado and Chris Hernandez continued to widen the score gap, allowing SRCL to take the win.
Throughout the fourth set, Ateneo failed to keep their miscalculations in check and continued to hand SRCL free points. SRCL’s Sean Labrador and Dave Lardizabal further combined their offensive mastery to close off the fourth set. In the end, the Blue and White failed to control their mistakes and concluded the match with a total of 47 errors.
The Blue Eagles hope to notch their first win of the tournament in their match against the Army-Katinko Troopers on Saturday, September 10 at 5:30 PM. The games are streamed on OneSports, Cignal Play, Smart GigaPlay and Spikers’ Turf official website: https://spikersturf.ph/live.
Box Scores:
Ateneo: Batas – 15, Pacinio – 14, Salarzon – 10, Gopio – 6, Absin – 5
Santa Rosa City: Disquitado – 11, C. Hernandez – 9, K. Hernandez – 9, Lardizabal – 8, Labrador – 5, Baldos – 3
Set Scores:
20-25, 25-17, 17-25,23-25
