IN STRAIGHT sets, the Ateneo Men’s Volleyball Team (AMVT) faltered against the Adamson University (AdU) Soaring Falcons, 26-28, 22-25, 28-30. The match occurred yesterday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
This loss handed the Blue Eagles a 3-3 win-loss record in the elimination round standings of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 86 Men’s Volleyball Tournament (MVT).
Kennedy Batas tallied 20 points on 17 kills and three blocks in the defeat. Jian Salarzon also emerged as a top performer, accumulating 16 markers from 13 spikes, two deflections, and one ace. Meanwhile, John Gay from AdU totaled 16 points from 13 hits, two denials, and an unanswered service.
The contest saw the first set head into thrilling overtime action. Ateneo established an early two-point lead from an Amil Pacinio block and a Ryan Daculan quick attack, 2-0. Responding swiftly, Adamson erased the lead by taking advantage of the gaps in the Blue and White’s defense, 2-3. The game transformed into an exchange of back-to-back kills from the frontcourt, 8-8, with Salarzon and Soaring Falcon Marc Paulino’s down-the-line spikes standing out during the sequence. Shattering the standstill, the Falcons eventually raced to an advantage via crafty drop balls from Gay and Jude Aguilar, 13-11. The Blue Eagles then orchestrated a mid-set comeback to tie the game after Jettlee Gopio’s quick attack, 18-all.
However, even with digging attempts from the Katipunan-based squad, Paulino and the Ermita-based squad targeted the rifts in Ateneo’s backcourt walls, 23-22. The succeeding attacks finally culminated in an overtime victory for the Soaring Falcons with Gay going down the line, 28-26.
At the onset of the second canto, Salarzon greeted Adamson with an explosive pipe attack, 1-0. Mirroring the first strophe, both squads traded blows for a 5-all deadlock, where Batas thrived in the chaos with blazing blocks and straights, 11-10. However, a series of errors plagued Ateneo, hindering their momentum to force a deadlock, 18-all. The errors persisted on the surface for Ateneo with Salarzon’s miscue at the service line, tallying up their eighth service error, 20-22. Adamson maintained their lead en route to bagging the set due to a net error by Enzo Gutierrez, 25-22.
In the final frame, a back-and-forth of conversions had both teams exhibiting excellent attack fronts, 7-all. Following this, the Soaring Falcons burst on a 4-0 run courtesy of a loaded front court, resulting in a timeout on the side of the Blue and White, 7-11. Consequently, the Blue Eagles answered back with a 5-1 run from a Gopio block and Batas conversions, 12-all.
Despite Ateneo leading courtesy of Pacinio going off the block and Salarzon serving an ace at 18-16, the Soaring Falcons hounded the Blue Eagles in a showmanship of attack variations for a 20-18 AdU lead. Facing a 20-22 deficit, Batas dug deep and pushed the Katipunan-based squad to set point after four unanswered conversions, 24-22. However, extending the set once more, errors by King Mangulabnan and a block on Pacinio caused the Soaring Falcons to deny Ateneo of a fourth set for a sweep, 30-28.
On Sunday, March 17, at 10:00 AM, the Blue Eagles will return to the taraflex to face current number one seed Far Eastern University Tamaraws at the Smart Araneta Coliseum in Cubao.
Box scores:
Ateneo (0): Batas – 20, Salarzon – 16, Pacinio – 12, Daculan – 4, Gopio – 3, Mangulabnan – 1
AdU (3): Gay – 16, Paulino – 16, Aguilar – 10, Francis Casas – 7, Mark Coguimbal – 5, Ronn Domingo – 3, Dan Gutierrez – 2, Lorences Canlas – 1
Set scores:
Ateneo (0)-AdU (3): 26-28, 22-25, 28-30
Current Standings (W-L)
- FEU Tamaraws (5-1)
- DLSU Green Spikers (5-1)
- NU Bulldogs (5-1)
- UST Golden Spikers (3-3)
- AdU Soaring Falcons (3-3)
- ATENEO Blue Eagles (3-3)
- UP Fighting Maroons (0-6)
- UE Red Warriors (0-6)
