THE ATENEO Blue Eagles continued their University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 85 campaign with a nosedive loss against the University of the Philippines (UP) Fighting Maroons, 25-13, 25-22, 24-26, 37-39, 12-15. The five-set Battle of Katipunan was held this morning at the FilOil EcoOil Centre in the City of San Juan.

This loss puts the Blue Eagles at a 5-5 win-loss standing in the Men’s Volleyball Tournament, good for fourth place alongside the De La Salle University Green Spikers. 

Opening the first canto with a sensational display of offensive creativity, the Blue Eagles secured a solid four-point lead after Jett Gopio’s middle attack, 7-3.  The Blue and White continued to hammer down on the Fighting Maroons after the first technical timeout, as UP staggered in their attack attempts to cut Ateneo’s lead, 14-7. 

Storming down UP’s blockade with consecutive slams from the back row, the Blue Eagles extended their lead to ten points after a deadly kill from Jian Salarzon, 18-8. As  the team’s momentum increased after Charles Absin’s service ace for the twentieth point, Salarzon then finished the set for Ateneo with an unstoppable kill , 25-13.

Though both teams launched an intense back-and-forth affair to start the second set, Ken Batas’ unwavering efforts at the attack front consistently prevented UP from clinching a lead, 5-5. The Blue Eagles’ benefitted from a three-point giveaway as a result of sequential attack errors by the Fighting Maroons, followed by Absin’s second service ace to claim the lead at, 13-10. 

Hungry to bolster their deficit, the opposition’s frontline punctured the Blue Eagles’ defense with back-to-back kills and a deceptive service ace, only to be shut down by Amil Pacinio for the 21st point, 21-18. Ateneo forcefully powered through the Fighting Maroons’ fast-adjusting defense, claiming the second canto with lightning-fast kills and a drop ball from Salarzon, 25-22. 

The Blue Eagles began to falter to UP’s tactical front after making untimely errors to hand the Fighting Maroons their first lead of the game, 7-8. Despite Absin’s quick attacks to even out the playing field, Ateneo’s deficit increased to four points after two consecutive attack errors, 9-13. After nail-biter rallies for their 17th point, the Blue and White failed to contain successive blows from UP’s Team Captain Louis Gamban, who provided cushion for the Fighting Maroons with an uninterrupted five-point climb, 17-22. Despite veteran setter Egie Magadia’s keen activation of attackers Salarzon and Batas to conclude the match, UP’s invigorated offense put an end to Ateneo’s rally for a three-set victory through sharp kills down the court in a brief extended play, 24-26.  

Eager to finish the match in the fourth canto, the Blue Eagles gained short-lived momentum from block points to clinch a three-point lead, 8-5. Ateneo managed to maintain this lead past the second technical timeout, 16-13, until UP’s diverse delivery of attacks zoomed right past the Blue and White’s floor defense, 22-20.

The Blue Eagles sharpened their talons to hail another win after a block for the match point, but dropped seven straight chances for obtaining match point after failing to recover from multiple stabs by UP’s Gamban, tying the score at 30-all. Salarzon’s desperate attempts in stalling the opposition with attacks from the wing were unsuccessful after UP’s fourth consecutive set point attempt, ending with the Fighting Maroons drawing blood for a fifth set decider, 37-39. 

The final set saw heavily defended points by UP which were enough to ward off the Blue Eagles for the first four plays, 0-4. Veteran Spiker Abai Llenos was put on the floor in hopes of turning the set around, but despite his efforts, the Blue Eagles struggled to defend UP’s consistent attacks. Soon enough, the Fighting Maroons secured the match point after Salarzon’s attack error, and Gamban claimed UP’s first win of UAAP Season 85 with an emphatic cross-court kill. 

The Blue Eagles will look to redeem themselves as they face the University of Santo Tomas Golden Spikers, on Saturday, April 15, at 4:00 PM at the PhilSports Arena in Pasig City. 

Set Scores: 

25-13, 25-22, 24-26, 37-39, 12-15

Box Scores:

Ateneo: Salarzon – 30 , Batas – 18, Absin – 18, Pacinio – 8, Gopio – 8, Llenos – 5, Magadia – 2

UP: Gamban – 22, Malaranan – 21, Cajolo – 18, Rubin – 10, Lipata – 7, Lagando – 3, Santiago – 1