The DLSU Green Spikers dropped their last game of the first round after losing against their archrivals, the ADMU Blue Eagles, 16-25, 26-28, 22-25, earlier today at the Mall of Asia Arena.
For ADMU, Mark Espejo was named Player of the Game, leading all scorers after contributing 21 points, 18 of which came from spikes. In the losing effort, Raymark Woo and John Onia tallied 11 and 10 points, respectively.
Flawed production
La Salle began the first set scoring three consecutive points from offensive and defensive efforts by Kieffer Reyes, John Delos Reyes, and Woo. ADMU would answer back, however, taking the lead before the first technical timeout with Espejo racking up four points coming from attacks and service aces. The Blue Eagles continued to tear down the Green Spikers defense as they kept on adding to their lead and eventually took the first set after a spike kill from Chumason Njigha, 16-25.
Throughout the second set, the Taft-based squad kept the game within striking distance and did not give the Katipunan-based team the upper hand. Near the end of the second set, with the game tied at 26, La Salle had several opportunities to close out but failed to capitalize on its chances at which point gave ADMU the right moment to claim the set. Esmilzo Polvorosa and Njigha scored the final two points for the Blue Eagles, giving them a two-set advantage over the Green-and-White, 26-28.
With momentum on the side of ADMU, La Salle struggled to keep the pace early in the third set as the Blue Eagles acquired a two point lead by the end of the first technical timeout. The team from Katipunan would continue to hold on to the lead by the second timeout. Coming to the conclusion of the set, both teams would trade points but DLSU failed to prevent the spikes of Espejo and Njigha which the sealed the set and the match for ADMU, 22-25.
La Salle had difficulty in scoring attack points as it only notched 29 points while ADMU tallied 39 spike points. The Blue Eagles’ starting setter, Polvorosa, outplaying his Green Spikers counterpart, Wayne Marco, executed 37 excellent sets while the latter finished with only 23.
As of press time, the second round schedule has yet to be released.
The scores:
DLSU (64) – Woo 11, Onia 11, Dumago 7, Delos Reyes 4, Reyes 3, Marco 1, Maravilla 1
ADMU (78) – Espejo 21, Njigha 8, Medalla 8, Baysa 7, Polvorosa 5, Rivera 1
