THE ATENEO Blue and Lady Eagles competed in Day 1 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 80 Men’s and Women’s Fencing tournaments on Thursday, February 8, at the PhilSports Complex Fencing Hall in Pasig City.
The Blue and White side concluded the day early, with no podium finishes for the Women’s Foil Individual, Men’s Saber Individual, and Men’s Epee Individual events.
Blue Eagles
Blue fencers Brent Trinidad and RV Libarios finished the poulings ranked 6th and 7th, with win-loss records of 2-2 and 1-3, respectively, for the Men’s Saber Individual event. This moved the two toward the tableau of eight, where Trinidad battled De La Salle University’s (DLSU) Vincent Tibus. Unfortunately, Trinidad forfeited the match due to a knee injury early on in the bout. Meanwhile, facing off against University of the East’s (UE) CJ Concepcion, Libarios was unable to slim a 10-point deficit, handing over a slot in the semi-finals to the Red Warrior. Ultimately, Trinidad placed 6th in the overall rankings, while Libarios finished 7th, tied with Matthew Domantay of University of Santo Tomas (UST).
Represented by junior Jacob Villanueva and Team Captain Michael Tan, Ateneo failed to make it further into the Men’s Epee Individual event, ranking 8th and 10th after the poulings, respectively. Villanueva had a win-loss record of 1-3 while Tan was slated at 0-4. Villanueva was unable to match the momentum of UST’s Noelito Jose, conceding the contest with a final score of 5-15.
Lady Eagles
The Lady Eagles also struggled to seal a spot in the semi-finals of the Women’s Foil Individual event. Seniors Patricia Paulo and Gabby Jimenez finished off the pouling round ranked at 8th and 10th, with win-loss records of 1-4 and 0-4, respectively. Paulo dueled against UE’s Wilhelmina Lozada, who was the first seed in the tableau of eight. The bout ended swiftly as Paulo fell to Lozada, 4-15, for the Lady Warrior to secure her place in the semi-finals and eventually clinch gold in the event.
The day ended with heavy hearts for the Katipunan-based squad. “I expected more from our team, especially with the extra training and competitions we joined where we fared pretty well,” said Coach Ryan Janea on the team’s performance for the first day of the tourney.
Despite the slow start for the Blue and Lady Fencers, Janea remains positive for the next few days. “They didn’t do so well today, but there is still more to come, so hopefully they will all come back strong,” he shared. Additionally, he looks forward to seeing more of the ladies’ performances for the Women’s Saber and Epee Individual events.
The Ateneo Men’s and Women’s Fencing teams will continue to battle it out in the next three days of the tournament with victory on their minds and Coach Janea’s mantra, “All out, all heart.”
The remaining individual events will be on Friday, February 9, while the team events will be played on Saturday and Sunday, February 10 and 11, all at the PhilSports Complex Fencing Hall in Pasig City.
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