UAAP ‘avian war’: Lady Eagles vs Lady Falcons
“AVIAN” teams in the University Athletic Association of the Philippines ( UAAP) collide today as the Ateneo Lady Eagles take on the Adamson Lady Falcons in the curtain- raiser at 2 p. m. of women’s volleyball play at the FilOil Flying V Centre in San Juan City.
Both sporting identical 2-2 records, the Lady Eagles and Lady Falcons are out to break away from the log jam with one another and two other teams and move up in the standings as the first round of the eliminations hits the halfway point.
Playing in the main game at 4 p.m., meanwhile, are the defending champions De La Salle Lady Spikers (3-1) against the still-winless University of the East (UE) Lady Warriors (0-4).
Ateneo is currently on an ascent, having won two straight matches after starting Season 80 with back-to-back losses.
The latest of the Lady Eagles’ victories was over UE on Feb. 17, winning in four sets, 21-25, 25-18, 25-21 and 25-14.
They struggled early against the Lady Warriors, showing the kinks that go with teams in transition, but managed to right their ship as the match progressed en route to booking the win.
Jhoanna Maraguinot paced the Ateneo attack with 20 points, 17 from attacks, with skipper Maddie Madayag adding 12 points.
Bea De Leon and Kat Tolentino each had 10 points for the Lady Eagles while Ponggay Gaston had nine.
“We did not play well in the first set. It’s like we were out of focus and was just not enjoying ourselves out there. But we picked it up as the game moved on,” said Madayag after their win as she touched on their slow start.
She went on to say that the team hopes to build on its current winning run and put itself in better position to compete as the tournament rolls.
BACK ON THE WINNING TRACK
Adamson, meanwhile, looks to go back on the winning track after being tripped by University of Santo Tomas last time around.
Won their previous two matches, the Lady Falcons were rolled over by the Golden Tigresses in straight sets, 25-9, 31-29 and 2519, in their match on Sunday.
Adamson was kept at bay by UST for much of the time and just could not get the lift it needed to stretch its winning run.
Jema Galanza was the lone Lady Falcons in double digits with 10 points.
In other news, National University’s Jaja Santiago was once again named UAAP player of the week after she led the Lady Bulldogs to a big five-set win over La Salle in their battle of unbeaten teams last Sunday.
The graduating player tallied 27 points, 20 from attacks, four block and three service aces, to help her team survive the Lady Spikers, 26-24, 19-25, 22-25, 2517 and 16-14.
In winning the weekly award, Santiago edged out Sisi Rondina of UST, Bernadeth Pons of Far Eastern University, Dawn Macandili of La Salle, and Ateneo’s Madayag.