Ateneo scares UST in Round 1

Ateneo-2, UST-3
[13-25, 25-18, 25-19, 24-26, 13-15]

Fearless were the Lady Eagles that faced last year’s UAAP women’s volleyball champions, the UST Tigresses, in their opening game of Season 73. The Lady Eagles put in a vallant effort to faze UST, but couldn’t finish with a win.

A bad serve from Ateneo easily gave UST the opening set win. Ateneo took their time to warm up to the competition making only 5 attacks against UST’s 14. But the second and third sets showed the UST that Ateneo had intentions of taking the championship trophy to Katipunan.

Ateneo scored off UST’s errors

to tie the second set at 14-all. Tough defense helped them pull away as they gained confidence and found their rhythm to set plays to take Ateneo all the way to the top.

An ace by Rookie Ella de Jesus and a big spike by Bea Pascual gave Ateneo the 25-18 win in the second set.

A more energized and determined Ateneo came out in the third set. They attacked holes in UST’s court and forced the defending champions to commit errors to give the Lady Eagles a 25-19 third set win.

It all came down to the fourth set, with Ateneo up 2-1. Last year’s third placers were tireless playing long-drawn rallies and taking turns with the lead against the defending champions.

Rookie Ella de Jesus fought tooth and nail to scare the defending champions with what could have been an upset.

But when UST Team Captain Aiza Maizo regained the lead at 13-12, the Tigresses came roaring back to life with a run. Ateneo hung on to the skin of its teeth to stay in the game and stop the game from going into a fifth set.

De Jesus came up with a play that tied the fourth set at 24, but Maizo foiled Ateneo’s plans of an upset.

De Jesus had a stellar debut against the taller UST squad. Coach Roger Gorayeb fielded the rookie in the third set and immediately collected dividends as De Jesus scored 14 points for the Lady Eagles.

The rookie was second only to Kara Acevedo who had 15 points. Fille Cainglet also contributed 14.

The Lady Eagles will face National University on Wednesday, December 1, 2pm at the San Juan Arena.