Lady Eagles take thrilling five-setter over Lady Spikers to sweep first round

In a rematch of last year’s championship series, the Ateneo Lady Eagles edged out a familiar foe as they defeated the De La Salle Lady Spikers in a five-set thriller, 25-22, 25-27, 16-25, 25-14, 15-9, at the close of the first round of UAAP Season 77 women’s volleyball at the Mall of Asia Arena Sunday evening.

Alyssa Valdez led the defending champions with 26 points and 3 blocks while Amy Ahomiro added 13 points and 3 blocks. In addition, Ella De Jesus had 9 points and 17 digs.

On the other hand, Ara Galang led the Lady Spikers with 11 points while Cyd Demecillo followed up with 9 points and 11 digs. In addition, Mika Reyes added 8 points and 3 blocks.

This win gave Ateneo solo first with a perfect 7-0 record while La Salle slips at second with a 6-1 card after the first round. As of press time, the second round schedule for the upcoming volleyball games is yet to be released.

“Si Coach Tai [Bundit] lagi lang kami nireremind na we just need to play happy tapos treat it like ‘yung mga ginagawa namin sa training. Kung gaano ka-intense ang training niya, iyon lang ang iisipin namin,” said Ateneo team captain Valdez.

The teams split the first two sets with Ateneo winning the opening canto while La Salle responded back in the second.

Ateneo simply couldn’t keep up with the lethal La Salle offense in the third set as Galang and Joy Baron’s attacks shredded the opposition’s defense.

However, things became interesting in the fourth set as La Salle quickly raced to a 6-3 lead but Ateneo’s nifty counter attack finally tied the game at 7-7.

Since that deadlock, it was an all-Ateneo show as Valdez’s spike ignited an 8-0 run which put the defending champions into a comfortable 18-10 lead. With that sudden twist of fate, Ateneo forced a do-or-die fifth set.

La Salle took a 7-5 lead in the final set, but Ateneo closed it out with a 10-2 run en route to their seventh straight win.

“Lagi sinasabi ni Coach Tai na we keep trying [to fight back]. Grabe din kasi ang tiwala ni Coach Tai kahit mag-error pa kami ng sobrang dami. Sasabihin lang niya sa iyo ‘heart strong,’” added Valdez.

Stats Watch

In this colossal match between two of the league’s top teams, Ateneo’s lethal offense carved its way through La Salle’s gritty defense.

Ateneo had 49 points on attacks while La Salle only managed 32. Valdez had 20 while Bea De Leon had 7.

In the blocks category, both teams stood pat with two of them amassing 10 blocks apiece. Ahomiro and Valdez had 3 blocks each for Ateneo while Reyes and Demecillo had 3 and 2 blocks respectively.

But perhaps the biggest difference between the two teams was the discrepancy in errors. La Salle committed 46 errors while Ateneo played more efficiently with only 36.

The scores:

ATENEO (3) – Valdez 26, Ahomiro 13, De Leon 9, De Jesus 9, Morente 5, Morado 5, Maraguinot 3,  Lazaro (L) 0.

LA SALLE (2) – Galang 11, Demecillo 9, Reyes 8, Fajardo 7, Cheng 6, Soyud 4, Baron 3, Dy 3, Macandili (L) 0, Ci. Cruz (L) 0.