ONCE MORE, the Lady Eagles fell short and were defeated by the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers, 17-25, 25-17, 17-25, 15-25, on Saturday, March 7, at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
The loss leaves the defending champions at a 1-1 win-loss record in the University Athletics Association of the Philippines Season 82 Women’s Volleyball Tournament.
Head Coach Oliver Almadro deployed the usual starting troupe composed of Jaja Maraguinot, Jules Samonte, Ponggay Gaston, Kat Tolentino, Faith Nisperos, and Jho Maraguinot. Defending the grounds were Dani Ravena and Roma Doromal.
The rivalry match took off with an exchange of points, but Tolentino’s service error provided the momentum shift that La Salle needed for an early 3-0 run, 3-5. Ateneo then had no answers for Jolina Dela Cruz’s three consecutive cross court kills, 7-12. Amidst all the madness, Samonte’s block stopped the bleeding for Ateneo, 8-12. Super rookie Nisperos had difficulty pulling off her usual power-plays as she got roofed by Thea Gagate going into the second technical timeout (TTO), 10-16. A slow start from the Lady Eagles resulted in another service error, ultimately costing them the first set, 17-25.
A kill, an ace, and a block from DLSU gave them the first three points of the second set, 0-3. At the service deck, Co-captain Samonte’s float serve fooled the DLSU, four-all. With Tolentino’s attempts failing to register markers, Maraguinot distributed the ball to the opposite side of the court and Nisperos flew in to garner a point off the cross court, 6-5. In a turn of events, the Lady Eagles came to life with a 7-0 run at the crucial 19-16 marker. The Blue and White took control of the latter part of the set with a frazzled DLSU struggling to respond to the Lady Eagles’ attack. Maraguinot took flight and punished La Salle’s defense to seal the second set victory for Ateneo, 25-17.
Simple errors continued to haunt La Salle as they handed the first point of the third set to Ateneo after a lifting violation was called, 1-0. Tied at seven-all, Tolentino scored on the cross-court kill to send Ateneo into the first TTO with the lead, 8-7. With Maraguinot’s spike ruled out of bounds and no check-ball called on DLSU, the two squads once again found themselves in a deadlock, 14-14. In another dramatic change of momentum, the Lady Eagles trailed their rivals by four points at 16-20, forcing Coach Almadro to call for time. After consecutive errors by both teams, La Salle overpowered Ateneo and completely stopped them from scoring, 17-22. DLSU eventually took the set after a return from Lavitoria landed outside, 17-25.
Eager to regain control of the game, the Blue and White quickly gained an early set advantage following excellent attacks from Samonte and Gaston, 4-2. However, their lead was short lived after La Salle shelled out a 6-1 run that was capped off by a service ace from Tiamzon, 5-8.
Ateneo struggled to gain traction while their rivals had yet to give up a point from errors in the set. What was supposed to be an easy over from Lavitoria to the Lady Spikers’ court turned into another point and ended the set in favor of the squad from Taft, 17-25.
In an effort to turn the tides, Samonte opened the fourth set with a quick kill, 1-0. However, Ateneo’s defense still could not recover from the beating it took in the third set as Tiamzon scored an ace from the service line, 5-8. Errors continued to pile up for the Blue and White and the only sign of life emerged after Ogunsanya’s error gave Ateneo a moment to breathe, 7-14. Despite valiant efforts from the Lady Eagles to salvage what was left of the dying moments of the match, their 4-0 run was not enough to fight off the steam of La Salle’s attacks, 13-23. A challenge from DLSU on the Lady Eagles’ play was ruled successful to end the set and the match, 15-25.
The Lady Eagles will next face the University of the East Lady Warriors on Wednesday, March 11, 10:30 AM at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
