Eagles whip Tams, clinch PVL crown

Ateneo annexed another men’s volley crown in emphatic fashion, sweeping Far Eastern U, 25-21, 25-22, 25-16, in the men’s division of the PVL Collegiate Conference last night at the FiloIl Flying V Center.

Like in their 25-22, 25-20, 2519 romp in the opener of their best-of-three playoff, the Eagles needed to rally midway through the first two sets before imposing their will and power in the third to fashion out the 74-minute victory for their third collegiate title after scoring back-to-back championships in the defunct V-League in 2015-16.

Marck Espejo unloaded a 20-hit game, including 14 attack points, while Gian Glorioso added nine kills and finished with 10 markers for the Eagles, who, however, missed completing a sweep of the season-ending conference after losing Game Two of their Final Four duel with UST without Espejo.

But the power-hitting ace, a four-time UAAP MVP who had to anchor Ateneo’s campaign in the UAAP beach volley, came back in the semis decider to power the Eagles to the finals then led the fancied squad past the Tams in two.

Espejo went on to bag the MVP honors and lead the other top performers in the tournament backed by Mikasa and Asics.