IN THE second rendition of the Battle of Katipunan this season, the Ateneo Men’s Tennis Team (AMTT) fell to the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 1-4. The match occurred earlier today, March 8, at the Colegio San Agustin Tennis Stadium in San Jose Del Monte, Bulacan.

With this outcome, the Blue Eagles maintain their status at the bottom of the tournament’s standings with a 0-10 win-loss record.

Opening the match for the Blue and White was JC Pabillore who faced off against UP’s Andrei Jarata. The Atenean tennister forged aggressive rallies out of the gate but could not convert his attacks into points, falling behind 1-6. The following set followed a similar formula, as Pabillore failed to keep up with his opponent’s offense, surrendering the first match, 1-6.

The second set saw Team Captain JD Velez take on the Fighting Maroons’ Miguel Iglupas. Ateneo’s ace found difficulty in landing his serves as his opponent punished his lack of output by taking the opening set, 2-6.

Determined as ever, Velez caught a second wind by going all-out in the second set. The two tennisters went back-and-forth, with neither of them leading more than by a margin. As the score reached a tie-break situation, Velez displayed his two-way ability by denying his adversary any chance to make up for his offense, giving the Blue Eagles the set, 7-6(3).

Due to undisclosed circumstances, UP’s Iglupas was unable to continue the match, surrendering the overall team-tie point to the Blue Eagles via retirement.

With the team-tie score at one apiece, JB Cuarto stepped on the hard clay against UP’s Loucas Fernandez. In the first set, Cuarto struggled to crack open Fernandez’s defense which led to him conceding the frame, 0-6. Another chance to break into his adversary in the second set failed to yield any favorable result as Cuarto finished another scoreless outing, 0-6. His defeat put the Blue Eagles down 1-2 in the team-tie count.

The first doubles match saw Lucas Yupangco and Gabby Calilung paired up to take on the Fighting Maroons’ Allen Rombawa and Rafael Liangco. The Blue Eagle pair’s defense in the opening frame became problematic as they could not contain their opponent’s attacks, 1-6. Even with a more aggressive approach in the following set, the Blue and White duo were unable to match their opponent’s offensive rhythm, 1-6. The result drew another winless weekend for Ateneo as the team-tie score reached 1-3.

For the second time this weekend, Ateneo failed to field any players for the second doubles match, similar to yesterday’s bout against the Adamson University Soaring Falcons. With that, the final team-tie point was given to the Fighting Maroons by way of a walkover.

Despite being firmly outside of contention range, the AMTT are aiming to pick up their first victory of UAAP Season 88 against the University of the East Red Warriors on Wednesday, March 11, at 7:30 in the same venue.

Team-tie Score:

Ateneo-UP: 1-4

Results:

First Singles: Jarata (UP) def. Pabillore (Ateneo), 6-1, 6-1

Second Singles: Velez (Ateneo) def. Iglupas (UP), 2-6, 7-6(3), ret.

Third Singles: Fernandez (UP) def. Cuarto (Ateneo), 6-0, 6-0

First Doubles: Rombawa and Liangco (UP) def. Yupangco and Calilung (Ateneo), 6-1, 6-1

Second Doubles: Tan and Goco (UP) win via walkover

Current Standings (W/L):

1. UP Fighting Maroons (8-1)
2. UST Tiger Tennisters (7-2)
3. NU Bulldogs (7-2)
4. UE Red Warriors (6-3)
5. DLSU Green Tennisters (3-7)
6. AdU Soaring Falcons (2-8)
7. ATENEO Blue Eagles (0-10)