In line with the return of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Men’s Volleyball Tournament, this weekly series will analyze the state of the Ateneo Blue Eagles as they look to land a spot in this season’s Final Four.

THE BLUE Eagles have yet to find their momentum this season as they currently stand with a 1-3 win-loss record, good for sixth place on the UAAP Season 85 Men’s Volleyball rankings. 

The Ateneo Men’s Volleyball Team (AMVT) successfully recovered from their February 25 loss to the National University (NU) Bulldogs with a win over the University of the East (UE) Red Warriors, 3-2 last March 1. However, they failed to follow through in the succeeding games against the De La Salle University (DLSU) Green Spikers last March 5, 0-3, and the Far Eastern University (FEU) Tamaraw Spikers last March 8,  1-3. 

1. Maximizing all attackers

Caitlin: HAVING TO build a team from the ground up, returning to the UAAP is not an easy feat for the AMVT, given that the majority of its key players like Chumason Njigha and Kurt Aguilar have already graduated. Most of the starters have never set foot on the UAAP seniors stage until this season, and this gap in game experience continues to impact their chemistry on the court, seen especially in their transition plays. 

As expected in volleyball, Ateneo’s points are mainly collected by the wing spikers. The Blue Eagles’ most reliable attackers are Ken Batas and standout rookie Jian Salarzon, who notably has been the best scorer for all four matches so far. Batas’ loaded attacks from the opposite, alongside Salarzon’s smart ball placement and good court vision will help collect wins moving forward, but Ateneo’s offense becomes lethal when the middle blockers are activated. 

With quick attacks from the middle, they can claim court momentum and dictate the speed of play as seen in their most recent match against the FEU Tamaraw Spikers. In the first set win, it was clear that Ateneo had the upper hand thanks to UAAP Season 81 best setter Egie Magdia feeding the middles to rally points early on. With Jett Gopio’s slide attacks that shattered FEU’s defenses, and Chad Absin’s high reaching quick attacks for immediate kills, there was a significant boost in points collected by the middle blockers. Gopio and Absin had 14 and 12 points, respectively, a huge increase compared to their usual point outcomes of 2–6 in the previous games. If this match was backed up with better net and court defense, the Blue Eagles could have taken Sets 4 and 5 for a win. 

This need for set variety shouldn’t be out of reach for the Blue Eagles as they are constantly supported on their reception by defensive specialist Lance De Castro. The team captain has performed with an average of 64% reception efficiency and an average of 40% digging efficiency throughout the first four games. 

Knowing that the first ball is in good hands, it’s up to Ateneo’s setters Magadia and James Licauco to distribute the offense accordingly. Following better ball distribution, the Blue and White can orchestrate more complex attack patterns and more efficiently utilize all their powerful spikers. 

2. Sharpening the palisade

Matthea: DESPITE ATENEO’s main conversion of points from meticulous ball distribution on the offensive front, the team struggles to build cadence in blocking. To gain a fighting chance in the second round, the Blue Eagles must sustain momentum in shutting down attacks from the opposite side. The team’s error-plagued defense at the net handed easy points to their opponents in the last four games, incurring only a 13.8% blocking success rate. 

In the season opener against the NU Bulldogs, only 4/34 block attempts successfully parried attacks from the Sampaloc-based squad. Ateneo then saw another crash in blocking efficiency in their bout against UE, with the Blue and White weighed down by a dismal  7.59% block success rate.

Ateneo relied too heavily on Salarzon’s presence at the frontlines to disrupt kills from the opposition. Based on the statistics, Salarzon earned 11 block points, surpassing Abai Llenos and Gopio’s tally of two points and six block points respectively. With the majority of the block points at the hands of the outside hitter Salarzon, the Blue Eagles can attribute their dwindling defense to failure in activating its middle blockers. 

Although the team suffered two consecutive losses to DLSU and FEU, the Blue Eagles adapted to their miscalculations at the wall and showed improvement in blocking. As the numbers rose to 16.4% and 19.7% success for both games, respectively, it is not too late for Ateneo to establish an efficient barricade to challenge the opponent’s attackers. 

3. Balancing court intensity and composure 

Caitlin: THE BLUE Eagles greatly benefit from a heightened court intensity, as seen in their victory against the UE Red Warriors. With Llenos’ substitution in the third and fourth sets where he pushed for off-the-block points and put pressure at the net, the team caught up to the opponent’s lead when they needed it the most. An energy shift on Ateneo’s side of the court is what got them off the rut, and it’s intent of taking every chance to kill the ball from Gopio and Llenos that sealed the win for the fifth set. 

Increased aggressiveness from Gopio and Llenos not only lifted the entire team during their fifth set against UE, but it also helped destabilize the Red Warrior’s defense. It made it difficult for them to catch up with the speed of play, and they committed more errors that Gopio and Llenos took advantage of. However, as the following games have proven, the Katipunan-based squad cannot rely solely on its seniors for this, and will have to find a way to prolong and preserve the intensity on the court throughout an entire game. 

More importantly however, this must be coupled with better composure from the entire team. As seen in their games against NU and DLSU, the Blue Eagles often struggled to keep a steady defense as rallies continued. With their broken formation, Batas and Salarzon were unable to lock in solid spikes, resulting in easy first balls for the opposing team. Since a solid blockade was also not established in the midst of the scramble, and defenders were not in formation, easy kills were made against the Blue Eagles. The match against the rivals saw a notable difference in the offense as the Green Spikers had 47 kills against Ateneo’s 37 attacks.  This game had the largest spiking point difference as compared to the other matches where the point gap ranged from 2–5. 

Ultimately, it’s this lack of consistent composure that causes Ateneo defense to crumble and the squad to scramble. If the Blue Eagles can stay in system through reactive coverage and combine this with intensity and aggressiveness, the Blue Eagles can end the first round with more victories to their name. 

This week’s games: 

Sunday, March 12 4:00 PM vs Adamson University Soaring Falcons at the PhilSports Arena in the City of Pasig.

Wednesday, March 15 5:00 PM vs University of Santo Tomas Golden Spikers at the Filoil EcoOil Centre in the City of San Juan.