THE ATENEO Women’s Badminton Team captured another authoritative win as they dismantled the University of Santo Tomas (UST) Female Shuttlers, 4-1, earlier today at the Centro Atletico Badminton Hall, Quezon City.

With today’s victory, the Blue Eagles move to 2-0 after two days of action, resoundingly winning 18 out of 20 sets in a hot start to their title defense campaign. 

Ateneo Team Captain Mika De Guzman kicked things off with the first women’s singles match against UST’s Lizzy Belen. Despite a back-and-forth contest, De Guzman managed to widen the lead and win the first set with a wide margin, 21-11. UST then jumped to an early 3-1 lead in the following set, but De Guzman wasted no time and capitalized on Belen’s attack errors, handily winning the second set at 21-9.

The second women’s singles match saw Jochelle Alvarez take on UST’s Rhafi Santos. Early errors from the Blue and White allowed UST to take a 4-1 lead, but Alvarez stormed back to regain Ateneo’s advantage at 9-8. A flurry of emphatic smashes then earned Alvarez a 21-13 first-set victory in the match, eventually cruising past the second set with a string of scoring runs, winning at 21-8.

De Guzman returned to partner with Season 82 co-Most Valuable Player Chanelle Lunod to square off against UST’s Chloe Ignacio and Daine Peña. The Katipunan-based pair recovered from an early deficit and controlled the rest of the first set, 21-13. The powerful duo made easy work of their opponents in the second set, sealing the team-tie victory for Ateneo at 21-8.

Alvarez then paired up with Missy Cervantes for the Blue and White in the second women’s doubles match against UST’s Jennifer Saladaga and Rhafi Santos. The Blue Eagles controlled the match early but an onslaught of attacks by their España-based counterparts had the Ateneo tandem surrender the first set at 15-21. 

Following their victory, UST’s Saladaga and Santos launched an early 5-2 lead, but their errors late in the match allowed Alvarez and Cervantes to escape a heated battle, 21-17. The UST tandem eventually earned a 21-12 third-set win and their first team-tie point following multiple errors by the Blue Eagles.

Capping off the day was Chanelle Lunod, who faced UST’s Jennifer Saladaga in the third women’s singles match. Lunod quickly recovered from two-straight early errors with a series of stunning smashes to take a 10-9 lead. Despite a comeback attempt by UST, Lunod fended off Saladaga’s efforts to secure the first set, 21-15. The Blue Eagles then recovered from a 9-5 deficit with a resounding scoring run to take a 21-15 second-set victory.

While they have not encountered too much friction thus far, the Blue Eagles leave no room for complacency, as De Guzman and company are looking to instill the mentality of correcting even the smallest of errors.

“I think what we can do is really to learn from what we played today and know what to improve on the next few games because we have to be stronger especially [since we will be] going [up] against tougher teams eventually,” the team captain said. 

The Ateneo Blue Eagles are set to square off against Katipunan-based adversaries University of the Philippines Fighting Maroon Smashers at 1:00 PM on Saturday, November 5 at the Power Up Centro Atletico Badminton Hall in Quezon City.

Team-Tie score: Ateneo-UST: 4-1

First Women’s Singles: De Guzman def. Belen: 21-11, 21-9

Second Women’s Singles: Alvarez def. Santos: 21-13, 21-8

First Women’s Doubles: Lunod & De Guzman def. Ignacio & Peña: 21-13, 21-8 

Second Women’s Doubles: Saladaga & Santos def. Alvarez & Cervantes: 15-21, 21-17, 12-21

Third Women’s Singles: Lunod def. Saladaga: 21-15, 21-15