THE ATENEO Blue and Lady Shuttlers proved that they are indeed the reigning champions as they emerged victorious in their games over the weekend on August 16 and August 17 in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.
The men’s team defeated the Far Eastern University (FEU) and Adamson University (AdU), respectively, while the women’s team secured a pair of wins against the University of the East (UE) and AdU.
Women’s team
The Lady Shuttlers opened the weekend with a 5-0 score against the Lady Warriors. Bianca Carlos lined up a dominating two-set sweep of 21-9 and 21-4 for the first singles match. This was followed by Cassie Lim’s 21-17 and 21-12 victory. The Katipunan-based squad secured the day’s win care of the duo of Janelle Dihiansan and Dia Magno with the tally of 21-7 and 21-10.
Ateneo ended strong with Carlos and Team Captain Jana De Vera’s 21-11 and 21-12 win. Trixie Malibiran closed the day for the Lady Shuttlers with the score of 21-10 and 21-7.
Their spotless performance carried on to the next day with a 4-1 win against the Lady Falcons. Carlos, Magno and Lim edged their opponents, 21-8 and 21-9, 21-9 and 21-18, and 21-9 and 21-14, respectively.
In their doubles match-up, Carlos and Malibiran took care of business with a two-set sweep of 21-14 and 21-12. The duo secured the victory for the team even before the final singles and doubles match-ups. De Vera and Dihiansan, however, dropped their match 21-16 and 23-21, the only loss the Blue and White suffered for the day. Lim wrapped up for the Atenean Shuttlers with the last win at 21-9, 21-14.
“The team played well but the performance was better during the first game [Saturday],” De Vera assessed in a mix of English and Filipino. “But still, [it] was a great effort from the girls.”
The Lady Shuttlers will face the National University (NU) and the De La Salle University for their next weekend matchups.
Men’s team
In their clash with FEU, Season 76 Most Valuable Player Pawee Natividad gave the Blue Shuttlers the early lead and cruised to a pair of set victories, 21-8 and 21-8.
Looking to keep the momentum on the Blue Shuttlers’ side, Team Captain Justin Natividad secured the second victory of the day with 24-22 and 21-14 set victories.
Proceeding to the doubles match-ups, P. Natividad and newcomer Carlo Remo looked to secure the Blue and White’s first doubles victory of the day. Despite losing to the Tamaraws in the second set, the duo came away with the victory over their counterparts, grabbing the third and final set from the Tamaraws’ reach, 21-14, 19-21 and 21-7.
J. Natividad and Patrick Gecosala were focused from the start, disregarding Ateneo’s 3-0 advantage as they bagged the match with the score of 21-15 and 21-13.
Wrapping up the game day, Clarence Filart made sure that the Blue Shuttlers took home a flawless 5-0 win-loss record as he dominated his match in a two-set sweet, 21-9 and 21-8.
On Sunday’s game day, Filart breezed through his opponent, 21-9 and 21-10, securing the Blue Shuttlers’ first win of the day.
P. Natividad and Remo secured their singles match-ups 21-9 and 21-10, 21-7 and 21-10, and 21-10 and 21-7, respectively, en route to posting a flawless 3-0 record in singles matches.
The duo of Theodore Co and J. Natividad clinched their match 21-19 and 21-18 while the pairing of Gecosala and P. Natividad completed the sweep of Adamson with identical 21-10 scores in both sets.
“The team is playing well and I think we’ve been peaking lately, evidenced by our string of 5-0 match results,” J. Natividad said of the team’s performance. He further added that their lone loss to De La Salle University was a wake-up call for them to step up their game in hopes of defending the championship.
The Blue Shuttlers will be putting their 4-1 record on the line against UE on Saturday, August 23, and will be facing off with title contenders NU in Sunday’s matchup, August 24.
