The DLSU Green Tennisters lost a huge match-up to the ADMU Blue Eagles, 3-2, while the DLSU Lady Tennisters remain winless after falling to the UST Golden Tigresses, 3-2 as well, yesterday, at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Courts.
Falling short
The Green Tennisters had a rough start after Betto Orendain lost his match against ADMU’s Marcen Gonzales in straight sets, 4-6, 6-1. Team captain Kyle Parpan played hard to take a win for DLSU, but after three sets, he succumbed to ADMU’s Ino Canlas, 2-6, 6-2, 4-6. That gave ADMU a dominant 2-0 lead.
Fortunately for La Salle, the duo of Jonah Cano and Qoqo Allian managed to defeat ADMU’s Julian Dayrit and Bong Gonzales in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4, to keep DLSU alive in the matchup. LA Cañizares then continued the momentum after he defeated Huibonha in a landslide victory of 6-0 and 6-1, giving La Salle the opportunity to take the win against Ateneo with the score tied at two wins aside.
The Green Tennisters’ win rested in the hands of Hans Asistio and Rap Teng in the last doubles match of the day. Unfortunately for the Green Tennisters, ADMU’s Flores and Gatdula prevailed, 5-7, 4-6, to take home the win and solo second place for the Blue Eagles.
“It wasn’t anybody’s fault, I can’t pinpoint anybody, I can’t pinpoint one person, they won fair and square, we played well, it wasn’t a bad match,” said Coach Roland Kraut after the day’s matches.
With the loss, the Green Tennisters are now in third place as ADMU has overtaken them in the standings.
Also, Kraut mentioned that the Green Tennisters have to win their next match-up against UE if they want to enter the finals. “This makes it that our destiny is in our hands and we have to beat UE, the unbeaten team next week,” he said.
Continued struggle
The opening day of the second round for the Lady Tennisters went well in the beginning but fell short in the second half. DLSU’s Jed Aquino was unable to bring a win for La Salle against UST’s Erika Manduriao. Rachelle De Guzman managed to avenge Aquino’s loss in the first singles match, while Jenni Dizon and Nikki Arandia also managed to claim another win for DLSU in the first doubles match of the day.
In the next doubles match, Mary Alcantara and Kiana Gacias, however, failed to deliver a win against Ebeb Caorte and Meann San Jose, putting DLSU in yet another tie breaker match. With the score at 2-2, a lot was riding on Kylla Orillosa as she represented DLSU in the final singles match of the day. Despite all her efforts, though, Orillosa succumbed to Monica Cruz in straight sets.
Kraut, however, remained optimistic for the Lady Tennisters as their match against UST proves that they can still finish strong at the end of the season, “I think this goes to show that going in to the last two matches against Ateneo and UP, that if we can go against UST like that, we should be able to defeat Ateneo and UST”, he said.
The Green Tennisters will take on the UE Red Warriors on March 3, while the Lady Tennisters next play ADMU on March 4.
