THE ATENEO-MOTOLITE Lady Eagles ended their four-game winning streak with a straight-set loss to the BanKo Perlas Spikers, 25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 25-19, in the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Open Conference on Saturday, November 10, at the Malolos Sports & Convention Center in Bulacan.

Lady Eagles Head Coach Oliver Almadro fielded a familiar starting lineup featuring Bea De Leon, Maddie Madayag, Ponggay Gaston, Vanie Gandler, Kat Tolentino, Deanna Wong, and Dani Ravena at libero. Jules Samonte played over Gandler for most of the match while rookies Jaja Maraguinot and Bela Peralta also provided a spark off the bench.  

Tolentino was the top scorer with 13 points while De Leon and Gaston followed with six points each. On the defensive end, Wong was a bright spot as she garnered three kill blocks and seven excellent digs. Her defensive efforts, however, were not enough to contain the Perlas Spikers offense which recorded 43 spikes versus the Lady Eagles’ 30 spikes.

The Perlas Spikers tried to keep their distance in the first set, pulling away whenever the Lady Eagles would tie the score. The opening set followed this pattern until the very end, with De Leon restoring the deadlock at 22-all after a service ace. A cross-court kill by Tolentino put the Lady Eagles at set-point, 24-23. The subsequent rally lasted over a minute and ended with a shot to the corner by Perlas Spiker Amanda Villanueva, 24-24. From there, Kathy Bersola scored two consecutive service aces to put the first set to bed, 24-26.

The second set started off well for the Blue and White as a block by Wong on Dzi Gervacio gave her team a four-point lead heading into the first technical timeout (TTO), 4-8. The Perlas Spikers were able to shift the momentum in their favor, and by the second TTO, they were ahead by two, 14-16. Tolentino was able to keep the game close thanks to her attacks, but key errors and impressive offense from Gervacio ended the set, 22-25.

It was a tight battle to open the third set, with both teams trading points until a 4-0 run forced the Katipunan-based squad to call an early timeout down 7-11. The Perlas Spikers maintained the pressure on the Blue and White and pulled away late in the set to secure the match off a strong attack by Gervacio, 16-25.

The next game for the Ateneo-Motolite Lady Eagles will be against the winless Adamson-Akari Lady Falcons on Sunday, November 11 at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan City.

Set Score

Ateneo-BKP: 24-26, 22-25, 16-25

Box Scores

Ateneo: Tolentino – 13, De Leon – 6, Gaston – 6, Wong – 5, Madayag – 4, Samonte – 4, Gandler – 2

BKP: Gervacio – 14, Bersola – 13, Villanueva – 11, Dacoron – 8, Roces – 6, Ferrer – 3