THE ATENEO Blue Eagles defeated De La Salle University (DLSU) in five sets, 25-16, 17-25, 25-23, 26-28, 15-7 on Saturday, September 3 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig City.

Marck Espejo led the Blue and White with 25 points, 4 of which were service aces. Tony Koyfman and Rex Intal followed Espejo’s offensive output with 2o and 10 points, respectively.

The Blue Eagles picked up a slower pace as the Green Archers took the lead early on in the first set. After the first technical timeout, however, the blue spikers evidently stepped up, going on a 8-2 run that would lead to a comfortable first set win.

In the second set, however, the Green Archers responded. They controlled the set from the beginning and pulled away from the Blue Eagles in the middle of the set. It was a struggling period for the Katipunan-based side, who came up with a string of errors that only increased the advantage of the Green Archers.

With a total of 33 errors, the Blue Eagles nearly doubled the error count of the Taft-based squad, who recorded 17 errors. Meanwhile, strong performances from Green Archers Arjay Onia and Cris Dumao, who scored 17 and 16 points respectively, also kept the Blue Eagles within touching distance. The persistence of the Green Archers paid off in the end of the fourth set, where they saved three match points to extend the match.

In the fifth set, however, the Blue Eagles found their offensive groove and they did not look back. They started the last set with a 6-1 run behind a series of attacks by Villanueva, Intal, Koyfman, and Espejo. The Blue and White would go on to defeat their rivals comfortably in the fifth set despite a persistent and valiant effort from the Green Archers.

“It [the win] was more than exhilarating. It was everything we needed to push ourselves to the next level,” said Koyfman of this important win. “I’m just glad we managed to overcome La Salle for they really improved in this game.”

With this win, the Blue Eagles are now are now a win away from a spot in the finals. They now lead DLSU 1-0 in the semifinals of the Spikers’ Turf Tournament.

Game 2 of the semifinals of the Spikers’ Turf tournament will be held on Monday, September 5 at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

Box scores:

Ateneo – Espejo 25, Koyfman 20, Intal 10, Villanueva 9, Marasigan 9, Baysa 5, Medalla 5, Sto. Tomas 4, Polvorosa 4

DLSU – Onia 17, Dumago 16, Del Pilar 10, Woo 9, Asia 7, Frey 4, Jose 3