EXHIBITING THEIR championship DNA, the Ateneo Women’s Badminton Team (AWBT) overcame the National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs in comeback fashion, 3-2, to advance to the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 87 Women’s Badminton finals. The stellar Final Four matchup took place earlier this afternoon at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall in the City of Manila.

With this crucial win, the Blue Eagles booked their fifth-straight trip to the finals, holding the chance of securing an illustrious five-peat. If achieved, the Blue and White will be one step closer to tying the University of the Philippines Fighting Maroons’ UAAP women’s badminton record of six-straight titles.

Poetically, UP stands in the way of Ateneo’s potential feat, as they swept the University of Santo Tomas Lady Shuttlers in their semis bout to book their spot in the Season 87 title match.

The semifinals bout opened with Ateneo’s Mika De Guzman returning to the lineup and gaining the first team-tie score over NU’s Ysabel Amora, 2-0. The Atenean skipper battled through a contested first set with neither team surrendering an advantage. The set stayed close until the midway point, when De Guzman went on an offensive tear to close the set, 21-15.

In the second set, Amora came out swinging to lead 11-7 courtesy of forced errors. Regaining her composure, however, De Guzman chipped away at the deficit and eventually left Amora in the rearview to take the set and the first team-tie, 21-17.

Seeking to exact revenge in the second singles bout, Feeby Ferrer clashed with Karyll Rio, who helped end Ateneo’s extraordinary 26-game winning streak during their preliminary matchup last Saturday.

Despite racing to an early 8-1 advantage off the bat, Ferrer gradually lost steam in the first set following several errors that tipped the momentum in Rio’s full favor, 16-20. Facing a four-point deficit, Ferrer’s strong defensive net play sparked a 3-0 run that narrowed the deficit to a 19-20 scoreline. However, the Atenean’s comeback attempt was dashed by Rio, who decisively closed the set with a stupefying net shot, 19-21.

The second set saw Ferrer struggling to keep up with NU’s well-timed clears, as she succumbed to a series of net and out-of-bounds errors that eventually led to an 11-21 Ateneo defeat.

With the team-tie score tied at 1-1, the doubles action kicked off with Althea Ocampo joining De Guzman to face off against NU’s Jeya Von Pinlac and Andria Songcuan. The Sampaloc-based duo jumped out of the gates with suffocating defense that stumped the Blue Eagles in the first set. De Guzman and Ocampo trimmed the deficit to as slim as 13-16, but the Lady Bulldogs averted any late-game Ateneo runs with a 21-14 victory in the opening set.

Starting the following set, the Blue and White pairing found cracks in NU’s defense to force an early 6-6 stalemate. However, the Blue Eagles were only allowed seven more rallies for the rest of the set, falling to the Lady Bulldogs, 13-21, and dropping yet another critical team-tie.

With one match loss away from a potential end to Ateneo’s seven-year-long dynasty, Ferrer and Maxine Olango stepped onto a pressure-packed Rizal court in hopes of defeating NU’s Sarah Joy Barredo and Gwyenth Desacola.

Resolved to not go down without a fight, the Blue Eagle tandem dictated the first set’s pace with a series of electrifying smashes and lifts, backing the Bulldogs to an eight-point hole, 12-4.

However, the two teams found themselves in a tug-of-war situation, as NU turned the set around, creating a 16-16 deadlock. The Lady Bulldogs then summoned a 5-1 sequence to seal the first set at 21-18.

With the four-time defending champions placed on the brink of missing the finals altogether, the Ferrer-Olango duo launched an all-out assault to control the first half of the second frame, 13-7. Despite setting the pace with their clears, Ateneo soon encountered a mountain of faults that slowed their momentum and trimmed their advantage, 19-15. Nonetheless, the Blue and White quickly regained footing and sealed the set with strategic net shots, 21-16.

In the third frame, Ferrer and Olango quickly leaped to an 8-3 advantage, consistently connecting smashes on the baseline. With tougher and longer rallies, the Blue Eagles countered majority of the Lady Bulldogs’ drives, ultimately clinching the set to force a fifth and deciding match, 21-12.

All of Ateneo’s hopes for another shot at a five-peat rested on the shoulders of Ocampo who stood face-to-face with NU’s Tia Bualat in a virtual do-or-die standoff.

To kick off the final Tuesday match, Ocampo fired on all cylinders off her exquisite shot mastery to stack an 11-6 advantage. The Palarong Pambansa gold medalist continued to melt Bualat’s defense with a blend of smashes and net shots en route to a 21-9 first-set victory.

With a chance to send the Blue Eagles into the championship game, the surging rookie built off her hot start with a blistering 11-2 blitz in the second set. While Bualat mounted a short turnaround to cut the deficit, 9-15, Ocampo drove in consecutive smashes to go on an unanswered run.

The Atenean would then force an error out of the Lady Bulldog, ending the set at 21-9 and completing the Blue and White’s gutsy come-from-behind effort to keep their five-peat dreams alive.

The Blue Eagles will battle the undefeated Fighting Maroons in the finals tomorrow, October 30, at 1:00 PM in the same venue.

Team-tie Score:

Ateneo-NU: 3-2

Results:

First Singles: De Guzman (Ateneo) def. Amora (NU), 21-15, 21-17

Second Singles: Rio (NU) def. Ferrer (Ateneo), 21-19, 21-11

First Doubles: Pinlac & Songcuan (NU) def. De Guzman & Ocampo (Ateneo), 21-14, 21-13

Second Doubles: Ferrer & Olango (Ateneo) def. Barredo & Desacola (NU), 18-21, 21-16, 21-12

Third Singles: Ocampo (Ateneo) def. Bualat (NU) 21-9, 21-9