UAAP: Green Spikers fall to Ateneo in five-set thriller

The DLSU Green Spikers fell short in their match against the defending champions, the Ateneo Blue Eagles, 25-20, 23-25, 22-25, 25-21,15-10, yesterday, February 14, at the FilOil Arena.

Marck Espejo spearheaded the Blue Eagles with a game-high 35 points in completing the comeback for Ateneo. For the Green Spikers, team captain Raymark Woo led La Salle with 24 points, while Arjay Onia finished with 19 points.

Looking to dominate early in the game, the Blue Eagles won the first set at 25-20. However, they failed to follow through as La Salle slipped past them and grabbed the second set, 25-23, forcing a virtual best-of-three sets matchup.

With the momentum gained from the previous set, the Green Spikers found themselves leading halfway through the third set. However, Ateneo caught up at 13-all and refused to break away as they continued their rally. At 21-all, a back attack from ADMU went on to give La Salle an edge, while a Ralph Calasin block and a cross from Onia put the scores at 24-21 in favor of La Salle. An error was incurred by La Salle at set point, giving a chance for Ateneo to catch up. However, ADMU’s service went out, ending the set at 25-22, in favor of DLSU.

The beginning of the fourth set saw La Salle and Ateneo trading points. However, ADMU took the lead after DLSU incurred a series of errors. Near the end of the set, the two teams traded points as La Salle tried to catch up, but Espejo denied the Green Spikers, responding to every point that DLSU scored. The Green Spikers managed to snag some points from a couple of Ateneo errors but the Blue Eagles made up for it with a uncontested quick by Joshua Villanueva, giving the set to ADMU at 25-21.

The Blue Eagles quickly got an early lead after making a 7-1 run at the start of the fifth and final set. Midway through the set, La Salle scored four consecutive points that cut the Ateneo lead to three. However, the Blue Eagles didn’t let them close the gap any further. At 14-10, Ysrael Marasigan hit an open spike to end the set and match at 15-10, in favor of ADMU.

The Blue Eagles bested DLSU with 60 attacks and 11 blocks, as opposed to La Salle’s 59 attacks and 7 blocks. The two teams, however, tied in the number of service aces, scoring three aces in the match. The Green Spikers incurred 36 unforced errors, while Ateneo committed 32.

The Green Spikers will get another shot at clinching their second win of the season against the UP Fighting Maroons, whom they will face this Wednesday, February 17, at 8 am in the FilOil Arena.