THE ATENEO Women’s Table Tennis Team (AWTTT) fell short of their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 championship aspirations on the seventh day of the Women’s Tennis tournament.
Despite winning against the De La Salle University (DLSU) in their stepladder duel, the Blue and White finished their campaign in third place after a 1-3 loss to the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraw Paddlers. The semifinal contests took place earlier today at the Ayala Malls Manila Bay in Pasay City.
11:00 AM match vs. DLSU
In the first singles match of their DLSU showdown, Ateneo’s Aubrey Solis stared down a 1-4 hole in the opening frame, piled by pinpoint drives from La Salle’s Arianna Lim.
Undeterred, the Blue Eagle freshman clawed back to an 11-8 set victory, showcasing firsthand her unmatched power. Solis carried this momentum into the subsequent neck-and-neck sets, 12-10, 8-11, 11-9, to hand Ateneo their first team-tie point.
In the next singles match, sophomore standout Jelaine Monteclaro failed to contain DLSU’s Angel Joyce Laude, as the Green and White paddler swiftly snagged the first canto through her crafty and potent spins, 11-2. Despite Monteclaro’s best efforts, she could not curb the reigning UAAP Season 86 Most Valuable Player’s cascading shots, falling 6-11, 3-11. This result ultimately tied the team-tie score back to 1-1.
Meanwhile, the first doubles match featured Ateneo’s Co-Captain Celeen Docto and Kaela Aguilar going head-to-head against the Caoile sisters. Demonstrating superior synergy, the Blue and White dyad copped the first set, 11-5, to gain the upper hand over their opponents.
However, the next frames were not as easy for the Atenean pairing, as the game transformed into a back-and-forth tussle, 9-11, 11-9. Nonetheless, even in the face of their opponent’s tremendous tenacity, Docto landed the final set-winning loop, 11-5, bringing Ateneo to matchpoint, 2-1.
Aiming to finally dethrone the reigning back-to-back champions, rookie sensation Jelai Jover raised her paddle to face DLSU’s Kyla Bernaldez. Much like the previous doubles match, Jover’s showdown was equally close, with the first set ending in an overtime loss, 11-13.
Despite Jover matching the Lady Paddler’s tempo, 11-7, 7-11, 12-10, the rookie eventually crumbled under pressure, with Bernaldez forcing the fifth-game decider, 11-9.
Similar to yesterday’s match against FEU, Kath Bulaqueña served as Ateneo’s last bastion of hope, this time against Lady Paddler Shyrein Redoquerio.
The first set instantly became a nail-biting dogfight, with Redoqueiro coming out on top, 11-9. Despite the setback, the Blue Eagles’ team captain quickly bounced back and fended off the Lady Paddler’s attacks throughout the next two frames, 11-8, 11-9.
Now holding DLSU’s tournament life by the heart, Bulaqueña persistently challenged her Taft-based counterpart, even climbing out of a huge deficit in her 9-11 loss in the fourth frame. Determined not to relive the experience of tournament elimination, the skipper dialed up the intensity of her shots to take the dominant 11-3 final set win.
Bulaqueña’s victory secured Ateneo’s triumph over DLSU, turning her departed seniors’ dreams of beating the Lady Paddlers into a reality, 3-2.
2:00 PM match vs. FEU
Fresh from their promising victory, Jover reentered the tables with a headstrong demeanor against FEU’s Aizel Rom as Ateneo looked to inch closer to the title game. Leveraging her pinpoint accuracy, the Blue Eagle got off to a blazing start to nab the first set, 11-8.
Despite her strong start, Jover would soon drop the next three sets as she struggled to match Rom’s table intensity, 7-11, 2-11, 4-11, bringing the Blue Eagles to an early team-tie deficit, 0-1.
In the next singles match, Monteclaro banked on rapid attacks to fend off FEU’s Miriam Martinez in the early sequences of the bout, 14-12. Not to be outdone, the Tamaraw Paddler found her stride and outmaneuvered Monteclaro in the middle sets, 16-14, 11-6.
Despite the momentary setback, Monteclaro capitalized on her rival’s unstable defensive patterns, 11-9, 13-11, to provide Ateneo their first team-tie point and bring the game to a standstill, 1-1.
In the pivotal third bout of the team-tie matchup, the reliable duo of Aguilar and Docto found themselves on the receiving end of ferocious shots from the Tamaraw tandem of Glieza Ampalid and Krisha Reyes. Despite generating openings in the middle sequences, the Atenean pair ultimately succumbed to their rivals, 7-11, 11-9, 7-11, 7-11, conceding another team-tie point to the Tamaraws, 1-2.
With their season on the line, Solis sought to establish her presence early to neutralize FEU’s Shairah Gabisay’s advances. However, the rookie struggled to find her rhythm in the fiery exchanges, ultimately falling to her rival, 14-16, 14-12, 8-11, 8-11, and handing the Tamaraws the winning point in the team match-up, 1-3.
Following their loss, the curtain falls on the AWTTT in an otherwise gritty Season 87 plated in bronze.
