Lady Spikers seek crown; Eagles vow fightback
Games today (Smart Araneta Coliseum) 12 noon – NU vs AdMU (men’s finals) 3 p.m. – Awarding Ceremonies 4 p.m. – AdMU vs DLSU (women’s finals)
Three sets away from a repeat and a 10th overall championship, La Salle sets out to seize the moment and make Saturday its coronation day in UAAP LXXIX women’s volleyball at the expense of fierce rival Ateneo.
“We’re very excited to defend our crown,” said DLSU star Kim Kianna Dy ahead of Game Two that explodes at 4 p.m. today at the Smart Araneta Coliseum. “Hopefully, it will be our last game (of the season).”
The Lady Spikers moved on the cusp of glory after scoring a vengeful 21-25, 29-27, 25-22, 2520 Game One triumph over rival Ateneo last Wednesday.
But the road to greatness is expected to be bumpy as the Lady Eagles vowed to live up to their “heart-strong” mantra as they look to even things up and force a deciding Game Three.
“It’s not over. It’s just Game One. We know we can do it with the past games with La Salle so definitely we’ll come back to training, work a lot harder, and on Saturday babawi kami (we’ll bounce back),” Ateneo middle blocker Bea de Leon said with confidence.
DLSU skipper Kim Fajardo said it will be a test of how they will respond to the Ateneo fightback.
“Syempre babawi at babawi yan. Pero nasa amin kung paano idedefend ang crown. (For sure, Ateneo will bounce back strong so it’s up to us how we will handle them and defend the crown. Game Two will be a test of character for us,” she said.
Fajardo punched in seven aces in a 10-point effort along with 37 excellent sets and 10 excellent digs to help DLSU to victory in the opener. Tin Tiamzon (15) and Dy (14) paced the attack as the Lady Spikers out-spiked the Lady Eagles by 13.
“The defense was a bit shaky, hence the lesser output in attack,” offered de Leon.
AdMU captain Jia Morado, who had 46 excellent sets in Game One, also took notice of their 34 errors.
“It’s not something we’re super worried about because we know what we have to work on (in training),’ said Morado, who teams up with Jho Maraguinot, Michelle Morente, Kat Toentino, de Leon and Gizelle Tan in trying to spoil DLSU’s plans.
In the men’s division, the Ateneo Blue Eagles seek to complete an undefeated run to a three-peat in the 12 noon encounter with National U.
The Marck Espejo-led Eagles survived a tough challenge from the Bulldogs in the first game, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13, and brace for tougher outing as they gun for a 16-0 sweep of this season’s competition.