COMING OFF a painful debut loss, the Ateneo Women’s Lawn Tennis Team dropped another close contest at the hands of the De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Tennisters, 2-3. The Blue Eagles’ second University Athletic Association of the Philippines Season 86 match was held yesterday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center in Pasay City.
Even after sustaining a right shoulder injury in the previous game, Ateneo Team Captain Althea Ong powered through the pain in the first Women’s Singles match to give her teammates a spark of confidence. When asked about her approach to the game, she stated the will to win as her biggest motivation. “I just really wanted to win it for the team. Especially since I was the first singles competitor, I wanted to set the tone for the team.” This mindset would allow the veteran to play through injury and pull through against DLSU’s Jam Madis in three sets (6-4, 5-7, and 6-2).
Despite Ong’s strong start, fellow teammates Noelle Urgello and Nina Sandejas could not get the ball rolling for the Blue and White. La Salle’s duo of Jed Aquino and Bea Gomez made the Atenean tandem work for points to no avail as Ateneo conceded the first Women’s Doubles match, 3-6 and 5-7.
Meanwhile, in the second Women’s Singles bout, Ateneo’s Althea Martirez looked poised to take a commanding 2-1 lead. However, after leading 5-2 in the first set, Martirez would go on to not score a single point. The Blue Eagle’s offensive struggles would give the Lady Tennisters the window of opportunity they needed to take control of the game. Annika Diwa produced a five-point streak, completing the first-set comeback. Despite attempting to regain composure, Diwa’s momentum would prove to be too much for Martirez to surmount as she suffered the same fate, dropping the set 5-7.
With the Lady Tennisters being one win away from victory, the Blue Eagles were forced to dig deep. Giving her team a glimpse of hope in the third Women’s Singles match, Melanie Dizon displayed masterful technique in sweeping DLSU’s Maikee Vicencio (6-4, 6-3). Dizon’s dominance boosted the team’s morale after losing back-to-back team-ties, also setting up a winner-take-all Doubles match between Ateneo’s Mariam Garsin and Chelsea Roque and DLSU’s Arianne Nillasca and Amor Idjao.
Entering the last team-tie knotted up at 2-2, both teams understood the importance of prevailing in the game as neither refused to quit. In an extended first set filled with rallies, the Katipunan-based duo edged their Taft-based counterparts, 7-6. However, the Green and White would respond with rejuvenated energy, taking a commanding 6-3 lead in set two. Amidst fatigue and frustration, Ateneo committed costly errors including forced hits that went out of bounds, leading to a resounding 6-1 set and game victory for the Lady Tennisters.
Despite dropping their first two games, Ong remains confident that her team can recover. “The matches are really close, so I think we can really bounce back next week. I think we all learned that [with] the opportunities that are given, we can really use those to our advantage and not let those opportunities slide,” Ong added.
Ateneo will look to secure their first victory of the season in a match against the University of the Philippines Women’s Lawn Tennis Team on Saturday, at 8:00 AM in the same venue.
