In the second meeting of the Women’s Badminton Finals, the DLSU Lady Shuttlers yielded to the ADMU Lady Eagles, 3-0, earlier today at the Camp Crame Badminton Court in Quezon City. Swept by Ateneo in the best of three series, 2-0, the Green-and-White was able to finish the tourney as first runners-up—an improvement from missing out on a finals berth last season. Meanwhile, the team from Katipunan secured back-to-back championships.
Coming up short
The first match, which was a repeat matchup of yesterday’s meeting, featured Lady Shuttler team captain Iyah Sevilla going face-to-face against Lady Eagle Chanelle Lunod. The first game went in favor of Ateneo, 21-16, as Sevilla surrendered an early lead to Lunod. Trying to force a third and decisive game, Sevilla gave it her all but it was not enough as Lunod made quick work of her opponent in the second game, 21-6, to give ADMU their first match point.
DLSU’s Kanna Baba attempted to even the team-tie as she faced ADMU’s Mikaela De Guzman in the second match. Trailing early, Baba conceded the first game against her counterpart, 21-13. The second game was a close bout with neither player giving their opponent a significant lead. In the end, Baba failed to complete a late resurgence against De Guzman, 21-18. The Green-and-White now trailed with a 2-0 disadvantage against the team from Katipunan heading into the third match.
In the third match, Lady Shuttlers Palma Cruz and Shaynne Boloron went up against Lady Eagles Lunod and Joella De Vera in hopes of preventing a sweep by Ateneo. Despite their efforts, the Lady Shuttlers were unable to turn the tide in their favor as the Lady Eagles dominated the first game, 21-10. Cruz and Boloron faltered to Lunod and De Vera in the second game, 21-15, relinquishing the championship team-tie point and the crown to Ateneo.
Takeaways from the series
Team captain Sevilla remained steadfast in her team, proclaiming that despite being “underdogs”, her team was able to display a good performance this season. “I’m still very proud of our achievement kasi we really didn’t expect to come this far…Underdog talaga yung team namin kasi halos lahat ng kasama ko rookies. Para sa akin, parang bonus lang talaga kung nanalo kami dito sa finals,” she asserted.
(We were underdogs because our team is mostly composed of rookies. For me, winning the finals would have just been a bonus.)
Head coach Owen Lopez shared similar sentiments on the second place finish, “Nagkataon lang na short kami sa finals, pero proud kami kasi hindi namin in-expect na umabot sa finals.”
(It just so happened that we came up short in the finals, but we are still proud of our performance because we had not expected to make it to the finals in the first place.)
Despite not getting the championship title, Lopez remains proud of both the Green Shuttlers and Lady Shuttlers’ podium finishes this season, “Pinaghirapan ng men’s and women’s [teams] ito.”
(The men’s and women’s badminton teams both worked hard to achieve these results.)
With reports from Nikki Lacuna
