THE ATENEO Men’s Volleyball Team (AMVT) conquered the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Spikers in game two of the 2025 V-League Collegiate Challenge semi-final round after four sets, 28-26, 25-16, 23-25, 26-24. The match occurred earlier today, October 2, at the Playtime Filoil Centre in the City of San Juan.
Opposite hitter Amil Pacinio was lauded with Player of the Game honors after earning 20 points off 19 attacks and one ace.
Pacinio and Green Spiker Eugene Gloria opened the match with a cross-court spike each, 1-1. Ateneo’s floor defense struggled to contain DLSU’s Michael Fortuna and Gloria-led offense, conceding early court momentum, 2-5. Pacinio’s service ace cut the deficit, 4-5, but their inability to find points elsewhere enabled Joshua Rodriguez to call the first technical timeout with an off-the-block hit, 5-8, in favor of the Green Spikers.
Looking for additional scoring production, Miguel Yu responded with a diagonal kill, 6-9. Yu continued his surge with off-the-block hits to spark a 5-2 stretch for the Blue Eagles, capped off by a Pacino angled attack, 11-11. Both teams then traded points, but it was the Taft-based squad who created separation behind Gloria’s left-pin attack, 14-17.
Helping Ateneo catch up, middle blockers Brian Castro and Rodge Alejos stepped up to add attacking firepower. Castro delivered a quick attack and service ace, while Alejos denied Issa Ousseini at the net to even the score at 17-all. However, the Blue Eagles’ flurry of errors enabled another four-point swing for the Green Spikers, 17-21.
In a set dictated by momentum, a Jian Salarzon off-the-block hit marked Ateneo’s 5-1 run, 22-all. Relying on their frontline to take the lead, Ateneo first accumulated a block-point, then forced an opposing attack error, 24-22. Despite a first set victory looking inevitable, consecutive errors from Yu and Pacinio sent the frame into an extension, 24-24.
During the extended period, both teams refused to fall behind, sending varied kills to a 26-all deadlock. Salarzon then took matters into his own hands, ending the set with a through-the-block hit and a dink, 28-26.
The Blue Eagles began the second set with an early 2-0 lead, highlighted by an Alejos block on Ousseini’s quick attempt. The Green and White then retaliated with calculated attacks from wingers Eman Hernandez and Gloria that rattled the Ateneo net defenders, 5-4. However, a 4-0 run orchestrated by setter EJ Taluban contained La Salle, feeding the ball efficiently to Castro and Yu for a three-point cushion, 8-5.
Maintaining the upper hand, the Blue and White accelerated their pace by capitalizing on offensive tactics, with consecutive points courtesy of Pacinio and Salarzon, 14-10. Midway through the set, the Loyola Heights-based team clinched a 4-1 run, as Green Spiker Rui Ventura’s service went out of bounds, 19-13. Aggressive at the frontline, Yu then converted back-to-back attacks for Ateneo to attain an eight-point lead, 22-14.
Two points away from set point, Yu continued to locate cracks in DLSU’s floor defense, thus pushing the ball into the Green Spikers’ campfire, 23-15. In spite of Gloria’s haphazard tactics to salvage the play, Pacinio aimed for a cross-court attack, ultimately gaining the set victory, 25-16.
The beginning of the third set saw both teams at a standstill, 4-4, but a Salarzon off-the-block hit and Corregidor backrow attack gave Ateneo an early advantage, 6-4. Sustaining this momentum, setter Enzo Gutierrez continued to feed Salarzon en route to a 12-9 advantage.
Shifting the tides, however, the Green and White summoned a combination of plays to even the match with a 3-0 run, 12-12. From this point, Ateneo’s defense began to falter against Ousseini’s quick attacks, 15-17. While Yu and Pacinio pushed forward with attacks from the wings, they found difficulty in meeting Ousseini at the net as the Green Spiker kept DLSU in front, 19-17.
In the back end of the frame, the Green Spikers banked on their quick-attack-centered approach as middleblocker Rodriguez added to the Blue Eagles’ woes, 23-21. Yu then attempted to keep hopes for a sweep alive with an emphatic kill, 23-24. However, a service error from Batas consequently gave their archrivals the third set, 23-25.
Set on bouncing back from the loss, Pacinio pounded the pavement to welcome the fourth set, followed by a dump at 3-2. Green Spiker Hernandez then countered with kills through the Ateneo defense, alongside Gloria attacking through the block, 6-7. The Green and White eventually equalized against the Blue Eagles, as Ousseini marked down Pacinio’s hit from the right wing, 8-8.
To Ateneo’s disadvantage, DLSU plotted a 3-0 run upon denying Salarzon entry through their net defense, 13-10. In response, the Blue Eagles devised a 6-1 counter-run that saw Castro and Yu at the forefront, exhibiting both calculated offense and fortified defense, 16-14. The Salarzon-Yu-Pacinio triumvirate then produced points in the next sequences, however, this was matched by La Salle’s quick offense courtesy of Ousseini, leading to a 21-all standstill.
Toward the set’s conclusion, errors from the side of La Salle brought hope to Ateneo, as a faulty set from Hernandez handed the Blue Eagles set point, 24-23. Adamant to push the match to a fifth set, Hernandez mustered an off-the-block hit to reach a deuce, 24-24. Undeterred by the extension, Yu converted a cross-court attack to gain set point, ending with Gloria’s attack error to force a do-or-die match in favor of Ateneo, 26-24.
Entering a high-stakes matchup, Head Coach Vince Mangulabnan cited confidence as a key in becoming the first team to defeat DLSU in the tournament.
“Dahil in-acknowledge nila na magaling sila at capable sila, yun ang nagbigay ng win sa amin.” [Because they acknowledged that they are good and capable, this is what gave us the win.]
Following the results of the Ateneo-La Salle rivalry, the AMVT must achieve victory against the Green Spikers on Saturday, October 4 at the Ynares Arena in the City of Montalban to secure a slot in the final round.
Set scores:
Ateneo (3) – DLSU (1): 28-26, 25-16, 23-25, 26-24
