THE ATENEO blue beach spikers won their last game in convincing fashion against the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Archers in two sets on Friday, October 7, 2016 at the SM Sands in Pasay City.
The combination of Marck Espejo’s athleticism and Ish Polvorosa’s skill proved to be too much for the tandem of Wayne Marco and Levi Dimayuga from DLSU.
Ateneo controlled the first set immediately by opening with a Polvorosa spike that was set up by Espejo. Polvorosa’s attack gave Ateneo a quick 3-1 lead, though Marco’s blocking and Dimayuga’s offense kept it close at 9-6. Espejo’s signature spiking towards the end of the set helped Ateneo pull away giving them a 7-point lead, Polvorosa put the finishing touches in the first set to win it (21-14).
The second set started with Polvorosa keeping the momentum on the side of the Blue Eagles. Espejo was also aggressive early on, as his service ace put Ateneo immediately in double digits with a score of 10-5. Though the tandem from Taft did not go down without a fight, Dimayuga’s and Marco’s spikes got La Salle into within striking distance with a score of 15-12. Go-to-guy Marck Espejo pulls away with a combination of off-speed and hard spikes to get into match point. Though again Polvorosa closed a second straight set to win the match (21-16).
Even with the impressive win, the Blue Eagles end the eliminations with a 3-4 record putting them in 6th place, short of the Final Four.
Team Captain Espejo expressed that Coach Oliver Almadro reminded the team to give their all, as this is their last game in the tournament. “Sabi ni coach kailangan namin manalo convincingly, na yung score dapat malayo (Coach told us that we needed to win convincingly, the score should be far apart)”.
The Blue Eagle team’s campaign to reach the final four and defend their title ended in their match against the University of the Philippines (UP), where the Blue and White lost in straight sets. According to Espejo, the team experienced difficulty in preparing for the tournament due to the short period of training time given to them.
“[Sobrang] konti ng time ng preparation namin para sa tournament na [ito], parang two weeks lang preparation namin (We only had little time to prepare for this tournament, like we only had two weeks of preparation),” says Espejo. “Kaya medyo hirap kami gumalaw at hindi namin [ganoong] kagamay ang galaw ng isa’t isa. [Iyon] yung nakikita kong pinaka naging problema namin (That’s why it was difficult for us to move and we could not estimate the moves of one another. That’s what I see to be our biggest problem).”
The blue beach spikers have better plans for next year, as they are looking to improve the new adjustments that were made this season. “Kasi bago kaming mag partners medyo may chemistry na kami, kailangan polish nalang sa ginagawa namin (This season we featured a new tandem, we have some chemistry already. I think we just need some for polish in what we do),” explains Espejo.
