The Green and Lady Shuttlers suffered a setback early on in the season, but the teams have since come out triumphant with a 4-1 victory against their foes to retain their standing as one of the top four teams in their respective tournaments in the UAAP Season 75 Badminton Championships held last August 22 at the Rizal Badminton Center.
Despite an early defeat in the season, the Green Shuttlers continued to push on team after team after defeating the Fighting Maroons in the sixth round of the eliminations.
The Lady Shuttlers also boasted aggressive and dominating plays, winning their third straight game with a one-sided win over the UST Tigresses.
Fighting the Maroons
The Green Shuttlers feathered UP with a 4-1 win, favoring the Taft based squad.
Kenneth Monterubio delivered the first blow as he defeated UP’s Ethan Malelang in the first singles match, 21-18, 24-22.
The Green-and-White squad suffered in the second singles as Jc Clarito failed to hold the lead against Ethan Malelang with a score of 17-21, 21-6, 20-22, giving UP the chance to earn a tie.
The Shuttlers, however, stepped into the lead again in the first doubles that started with a 9-0 exchange between Ronel Estanislao and Lance Bautista and UP’s Charlo Tengco and Gian Manuel. The Diliman squad was out feathered giving DLSU ground to score 21-10, 21-14.
Carlos Cayanan and Gerald Sibayan followed through in an 8-0 exchange against UP’s Roberto Pineda and Malelang, giving them the score of 21-10, 21-17 to end the Maroons’ chances of winning.
Elijah Boac dealt the final blow as he defeated Karl Foronda with 21-10, 21-19 in the third singles.
Slaying the Tigers
The Lady Shuttlers started strong in the game as Danica San Ignacio thrashed yellow counterpart Ellaine Vinluan in two sets, 21-4 and 21-17.
España’s Anna Patricia Barredo countered back as she thwarted Danica Bolos with a commanding 9-21, 18-21 win.
The responsibility to regain the lead for the Green-and-White squad fell into the hands of Flo Lamigo and Aires Montilla. The pair stopped UST’s Maria Gaspar and Krisnin Yang in the first doubles match, scoring 21-16, 21-10.
The Lady Shuttlers toppled the UST squad when the Bolos-KristelleSalatan pair scored 21-15, 21-17 against Barredo and Montilla.
Team Captain Angelica Ramos delivered the final blow for the Green-and-White with a21-17, 21-12 win against UST’s Steffi Aquino.
The win currently ties the Lady Shuttlers with the FEU Tamaraws with both teams sporting a 5-1 record good for 2nd place.
“So far naman good, halos lahat naman sila nagdeliver so ganoon talaga. Minsan hindi naman laging kailangan na 5-0. As long as ‘yung buong team nanalo at nagcontribute for the team to win (So far, it is good, most of them have been delivering. Sometimes we do not need a 5-0 win as long as the whole team wins and everyone contributes to the win.),” said Head Coach Owen Lopez.
Facing the Tamaraws
Jockeying for better standings, the Green and Lady Shuttlers will face FEU in a crucial matchup this Sunday.
The winner of the match would have a firm hold at second place with a twice to beat edge heading into the semifinals.
“Actually pinaghahandaan namin kasi siyempre ‘yung placing. ‘Yung ang pinaghahandaan namin para sa susunod na game namin against sa FEU dahil mas magiging consistent pa yung team,” concludes Coach Lopez.
