It was almost a flawless day on the sand for Ateneo de Manila University (ADMU) as the Blue Eagles bagged two of three games in UAAP's 72nd Beach Volleyball Tourney that kicked off yesterday at the University of the East (UE) Caloocan Campus.
In the men's event, the spunky duo of JP Pareja and Pim Layno, surprised everybody by outclassing the more experienced National University (NU) Bulldogs.
With the grit and composure of the Eagles tested, Pareja and Layno played with a lot of heart, shrugging off the height advantage of NU's Jasper Adorador and Danilo Ramosa.
After losing the first set 16-21, Ateneo played inspired volleyball by eliminating the power hits of NU. They stayed with the basics and aimed for the hole in NU's defense, which was front court.
Come second set, ADMU saw that they won't score a W by simply playing above the net against a stronger NU blocking so they kept the defense off-balanced by going back and front courts alternately, even scoring some impressive down-the-line shots.
Adding F-U-N with their upbeat brand of play, the Blue Eagles frustrated NU, which eventually lost focus mid-game, as Ateneo barged in the winning column with 21-15 and 15-9 tally in the second and third sets.
On the sidelines of the event, Ateneo Coach Michelle Laborte said the win was a "good surprise" as the men's team this year was completely revamped.
"Hindi naman tayo nag-training para lang sa ganyan (We didn't train that hard just to get one win). We are aiming to get as much experience as we can, who knows," Laborte added.
On the women's side, Asia Urquico and Jess Morado won their season opener against NU in 3 sets: 21-15, 22-20, 18-16. The Lady Eagles dropped the first set and came back strong in the next two sets to snatch the win.
The tough tandem of NU's Mervic Mangui and Jennilyn Reyes didn't let up as the game needed four match points before the final whistle was sounded.
In the Lady Eagles' second game versus the University of Sto. Tomas (UST), Urquico and Morado ran out of gas dropping the game in just two sets, 18-21, 22-24, but the Katipunan-based team went down fighting.
The tenacious Tigresses Maru Banaticla and Jen Fortuna were all business, especially in the second set, as they successfully dodged the attempt of the Lady Eagles to extend the game to a deciding third set.
At the start of the second set, Ateneo beefed up their defense and didn't give easy breaks to UST that would allow the Espana tandem to setup Banaticla for a kill.
The later part of the set was another story as UST made the adjustments setting up Fortuna instead. Although Furtuna's hits weren't lethal, ADMU failed to capitalize, and they eventually lost steam at the tail-end of the match.
Despite the loss, Coach Laborte remains optimistic saying there is a lot of potential in ADMUs' young beach volleyball program which was only started two years ago.
Other games:
(Men) UE/DLSU 2-0, FEU/UP 2-0, UST/AdU 2-0, NU/ADMU 1-2
(Women) DLSU/UP 2-0, NU/ADMU 1-2, FEU-UST 2-0, AdU/UE 2-0, AdU/UP 2-0, UST/ ADMU 2-0
©Grace Ramos
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