The DLSU Green and Lady Shuttlers saw vastly different conclusions to their high-stakes matches to determine their Final Four fates in the UAAP Season 88 Badminton Tournament. The Green Shuttlers secured their Final Four ticket while the Lady Shuttlers bowed down and suffered a heartbreaking loss, missing out on the Final Four.
For the Green Shuttlers, their clinical 3-0 sweep over the UST Growling Tigers marked the end of a six-year Final Four drought. Conversely, the Lady Shuttlers fought valiantly but ultimately succumbed and bowed to the UST Growling Tigresses, 3-1, thus concluding their campaign for the season.
Green Shuttlers triumph
Fresh off their decisive 4-1 qualifying round win against UST, the DLSU Green Shuttlers carried the momentum in their showdown that would determine who would take the final slot in the Final Four. From the opening serve, the Shuttlers asserted their dominance by deploying rookie Lovic Javier for the first men’s singles matches against UST’s Aaron Bendaña. The first set opened up with a high-stakes tone as both competitors battled it out in a grueling marathon, keeping the crowd on edge with powerful rallies and precise drop shots. With the match reaching a 20-all tie, the set pushed into extension. With tensions rising, Javier dug deep and showed composure well beyond his years to seize the decisive points and take the pivotal opener, 22-20. From that point on, Javier’s confidence skyrocketed as he displayed aggressive yet composed attacks, dominating the rallies with deep placements and clears to rapidly build up a substantial lead. Taking advantage of the mistakes of Bendaña, Javier closed out the second set with a dominant 21-11 win to give the Green Shuttlers their first point of the day.
With the bolstered spur on the Green-and-White’s side, the ever-reliable James Capin was deployed onto the court for the second singles match against UST’s Ivan Tuazon. From the opening serve, Capin maintained firm control of the first set, preventing Tuazon from making up ground and establishing his momentum. With precise hits and attacks, Capin consistently forced Tuazon to scramble across the court and make crucial errors that mounted a significant run that culminated in a clean 21-14 first-set win. As the second canto began, the impetus heavily favored DLSU’s third-year shuttler. Capin maintained a clinical performance from the first serve. However, Tuazon wouldn’t go down without a fight and made the score close in the early stages of the set, 16-15. With Capin’s strategic placement and hits, he sparked a run to widen the gap at the end, finishing the set at 21-16, giving the Lasallians a commanding 2-0 advantage over the UST.
Powering through the first two rounds of singles matches, La Salle aimed to stamp their ticket for the Final Four in the doubles match. The Green-and-White installed the staunch duo of Joshua Morada and Yuan Tan to battle for the match point against UST’s Ron Galve and Bien Miraflor. As the first serve of the round kicked off, the Taft-based squad produced precise hits, yet the battle was still close as the Tigers kept answering back, being tied at 20-all. The DLSU Green Shuttlers lunged ahead and took the first set, 22-20, giving DLSU a 1-0 advantage. As the second set started, both squads went out swinging, trying to maintain and create an advantage for themselves. With an intense back and forth sequence, the fierce offenses and defenses of each squad pushed for another 20-all deadlock. Nonetheless, UST clawed their way back to tie the sets at 1-all, pushing for a deciding set. In the final period, it was simply a rubber match; neither team would want to give an inch, as one team aimed to finish the match, while the other fought to keep their tournament chances alive. The Green Shuttlers found themselves down 11-10 at the interval but the Morada-Tan combo locked in and rallied immediately, finding a second wind and scoring four straight points to gain control of the set and push the lead to a comfortable margin. The Lasallians turned up the pressure and maintained an aggressive offense, forcing the Growling Tigers into defensive desperation. Tan’s precise shot restored order for the Green Shuttlers, sparking a run to finish the set at 21-17, completing a 3-0 sweep to advance to the Final Four.
Tigress trouble
Starting things off for the DLSU Lady Shuttlers was yesterday’s woman of the day, Mia Manguilimotan, who had clinched the deciding singles match to keep their semifinals hope alive. The senior Lady Shuttler stepped into the rubber court against UST’s Christine Dorega, looking to give La Salle an early edge in the race-to-three playoff. In the middle of the opening set, Manguilimotan unloaded a scoring surge with her impressive placements to sink the Growling Tigress in double digits, 16-5. Manguilimotan kept an aggressive play until the end, drowning Dorega in attacks to ultimately close out both sets with a huge margin, 21-11, 21-13. With this birthday win from Manguilimotan, the Lady Shuttlers gained their lone point of the day, 1-0.
In the second singles match of the day, DLSU fielded their usual player for the event, Lady Tuario, to go up against a well-seasoned Hanie Mae De Jesus. Early on, Tuario struggled with net and court miscalculations, allowing the España-based representative De Jesus to build a small lead, 7-4. The Lasallian eventually caught up to her opponent, keeping the game close for deadlock after deadlock, but lost through a costly string of errors, 21-16. UST was now one set away from claiming their maiden win of the day, but Tuario refused to back down. La Salle overcame a sizable deficit after the interval, capitalizing on her opponent’s miscues to grab the lead, 13-11. De Jesus nearly forced a deuce late in the frame, but an untimely net touch gave Tuario the second set, 21-19. Heading into the decider, Tuario fell behind by seven points by the break, 12-5, before trimming the gap to 15-13 with sharp reads on the shuttle. Despite her rally, De Jesus held firm, denying Tuario to overtake and sealing the final set, 21-18, to even the tie at one match apiece, 1-all.
With both teams hungry to call match point for the day, the duo of captains Ghiselle Bautista and Viana Antonio geared up to go against the gritty tandem of Jennifer Saladaga and Rhafi Santos. Antonio and Bautista overcame an early 4-0 deficit after forcing their opponents into a string of errors, snatching a slim 8-7 lead. From there, the match stayed neck-and-neck, with both pairs trading points and staying within striking distance. However, the UST pair pulled away at the stretch with their polished gameplay, etching a 3-0 run to call game for the first set, 21-17. In a game defined by excruciating rallies, the Green-and-White duo later on faltered after the short interval of the second set, plagued by unforced lapses and overwhelmed by Santos’ loaded attacks, conceding the frame, 21-15.
The UST Growling Tigresses were now one step away from booking a Final Four berth as the team entered its fourth match of the day. Manguilimotan suited up once again, partnering up with designated duo Army Espe, who made her return after sitting out last season to recover from an injury. In what could be the Lady Shuttlers’ final game of the season, the Lasallian duo gave it their all, launching their trademark attacking style to storm ahead with an early 5-0 lead against De Jesus and Marielle Alvarez. The hungry Growling Tigresses found their rhythm and seized the lead by the break, 11-9. Despite keeping the score close and popping relentless attacks, the Lasallian duo could not reclaim the advantage, succumbing to a late 4-0 run that sealed the set, 21-17. The second set saw both teams trading blows to arrive at 5-all before the break. DLSU was later dealt a four-point deficit after consecutive attacks forced them to dive for every shuttle, even falling to the court, but a miscue ended up giving the point to UST, 12-8. The match reached another stalemate at 15-all after incredible saves and resounding attacks from the Green-and-White duo, but they could not withstand another scoring blitz, failing to salvage the set, 21-17, and the match, 3-1.
As their Final Four playoff matches have concluded, the DLSU Green Shuttlers will face the top-seeded ADMU Blue Eagles tomorrow, October 21, at the same venue, having emerged from a three-way tie with the AdU Soaring Falcons and UST Growling Tigers. Meanwhile, the Lady Shuttlers endured a similar fate from last season, ending their campaign with a loss to the very same foes.
