DEFENDING champion Ateneo is slowly regaining its old, fiery form but had to dodge the upset axe wielded by a game but outclassed University of the East yesterday.
Averting what could have been a huge meltdown, the Blue Eagles turned back the winless Red Warriors 25-14, 20-25, 25-11, 25-14 and gained a share of third in the 84th UAAP women’s volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay.
Faith Nisperos shone for Ateneo anew with a match-high 19 points built on 15 attacks, while Vanie Gandler chipped in 16 markers on 12 attacks, three aces, and a block highlighted with 14 excellent digs.
After losing their first three games, the Eagles have notched three wins in a row, counting a 25-23, 25-18, 25-18 triumph over University of the Philippines four days ago to improve to 3-3 in a tie with the Fighting Maroons.
UE failed to rebound from its 25-15, 25-14, 25-15 loss to La Salle last Saturday and fell to 0-6.
“We’re not counting the streak. We just want to be better every game and this game is not different from the other games. We had to prepare rin for UE,”
“We know for a fact naman na lumalaban talaga sila and kapag hindi mo binantayan iyong counterattack nila, they will really hit on you like what happened on our second set,” he added.
Ja Lana, who suffered an injury in the fourth set due to a bad fall after a block attempt, paced the Lady Warriors with 13 points, while Dara Nieva had 12.
In the first game, La Salle tripped UP 25-12, 25-17, 25-19 for its second straight win and gained solo second.
Alleiah Malaluan fired 16 points off 15 attacks for the Lady Spikers, while Fifi Sharma added 10 markers, seven from spikes.
Thea Gagate and Jolina Dela Cruz also had seven points as La Salle rose to 4-2.
The Fighting Maroons dropped to 3-3 for third.
“Well, UP started strong talaga so coming into this game talagang double time iyong paghahanda ng team so the fact na maglalaro pa lang kami ng first game namin, iyong first match ng 10 o’clock so hindi rin namin alam kung paano gagalaw yuiyongng team,” Lady Spikers assistant coach Benson Bocboc said.
