UAAP volleyball: Lady Eagles reach perfect dozen in straight-sets win over UST
There is no slowing them down.Banged up and all, the Ateneo Lady Eagles won their 12th straight game of the season in their straight sets master over the UST Golden Tigresses, 25-18, 25-22, 25-22, at the Mall of Asia Arena Wednesday evening.
“We are really thankful that we survived this game and very well played siya. UST played a good game and ‘yung defense nila is also good,” said Ateneo team captain Alyssa Valdez. “Siguro pinapakita rin sa amin na we need to improve and marami din kaming dapat na adjustment kaya kailangan namin maging healthy physically and emotionally.
Ateneo went off with a hot start as they quickly blasted the Tigresses in the first set via quick attacks from Valdez and Michelle Morente.
However, UST came out different in the second set as they were able to gain momentum over the defending champions and even threatened to tie the game at one set apiece.
UST also had the golden chance to take over the game after Aeriel Patnongon and Madeleine Madayag left the game as both spikers sprained their ankles due to awkward landings.
With the second set knotted at 21-all, Valdez once again came up big as she successfully scored two unanswered points to put the Lady Eagle up 23-21. UST would then commit unforced errors to give Ateneo the second set.
The Tigresses would mount a 12-9 lead capitalizing on Ateneo’s thinner frontline. Despite having the obvious momentum advantage, Morente rose to the occasion as she responded with a flurry of attacks, service aces and defensive stops to singlehandedly trim the UST lead to 16-15.
Going for the kill, Ateneo uncorked a 9-3 scoring run to establish a 24-19 lead. With the game at match point, the Lady Eagles would have a few hiccups as UST managed to slice their lead to 24-22 which forced Coach Tai Bundit to burn a timeout.
Successfully drawing the game-winning play, Valdez finally slammed the door shut for UST with a vicious spike.
“Ang sabi pag nandoon ka sa top [spot] siyempre everyone is eyeing for you di ba? So we have to push ourselves harder at dapat maintain namin ang consistency since minsan kulang. There is a lot to improve pa talaga,” added Valdez.
Valdez led all scorers with 21 points while Amy Ahomiro followed up with 12 points and 2 blocks. In addition, Morente had 12 points and 11 digs.
On the other hand, the trio of Pamela Lastimosa, Ej Laure, and Marivic Meneses all scored 9 points apiece while Alex Cabanos had 4 markers.
With this win, Ateneo maintains its hold on the top spot with a 12-0 record while UST is in a dangerous situation as they know have a 5-7 record which puts them at fifth place in the standings. Holding the third and fourth seeds are the NU Lady Bulldogs (5-6) and the Adamson Lady Falcons (5-6).
Up next for the Lady Eagles will be the UE Lady Red Warriors this February 15 at the San Juan Arena while UST shall square off with the UP Lady Maroons this February 14 also at the San Juan Arena.
Stats Watch
Ateneo flexed its offensive dominance once again today.
Ateneo scored a whopping 46 points on attacks, 20 coming from Valdez and 8 coming from Ahomiro while UST only manaed to drop 25 markers.
Although one glaring part of this Ateneo is that they committed 24 errors mostly from miscommunications and sloppy receiving.
In the defensive end, Ateneo showcased its floor defense in full swing as they had 44 digs while UST only had 37.
The scores:
ADMU (3) – Valdez 21, Ahomiro 12, Morente 11, De Jesus 7, Morado 3, Madayag 2, Patnongon 1, Lazaro (L) 0.
UST (0) – Meneses 9, Lastimosa 9, Laure 9, De Leon 4, Cabanos 4, Cortez 2, Tunay 1, Verutiao 0, Rondina 0, Dusaran (L) 0.
