Like the waves at bay and the howl of the wind, every outing carries its own uncertainty—such was the rhythm of the DLSU Green and Lady Spikers as they embraced both defeat and victory in their UAAP Season 88 Beach Volleyball Tournament campaign yesterday, November 28, at the Sands SM by the Bay.
Staying steady and composed proved essential for the Green Spikers’ duo of Von Marata and Andre Espejo, who opened their doubleheader with a stinging, razor-close loss to the UP Fighting Maroons, 19-21, 21-19, 15-17. By the afternoon, the Green-and-White returned to the sand with sharpened intent. Using the earlier setback as a pivot point, they found their footing and secured a commanding win over the FEU Tamaraws, 21-16, 21-17.
Capping the Lasallian tripleheader, the Lady Spikers waged their own gripping duel against the AdU Soaring Falcons. Despite the spirited efforts of Ela Raagas and Mica Buis, their 19-21, 21-17, 7-15 finish carried the sting of a near breakthrough out of the losing column.
Closely fought affair
With the two sides on an even 1-3 standing, the Green Spikers and Fighting Maroons went stride for stride to open the first set. The Lasallian duo of Marata and Espejo showcased chemistry on the sand, but the Maroon tandem of Angelo Lipata and Immanuel Torotoro matched their efforts. The lead switched back and forth with the scoreline keeping close. The first set quickly ran to 7-all, with the two partnerships executing effective combinations. However, it was also plagued with unforced mistakes, such as reception and attack errors. The Green-and-White made multiple attempts to build a significant lead but were unable to do so due to Lipata’s powerful kills. This limited the Taft-based team’s lead to one or two points before the score would eventually be equalized. But the white shirts eventually built a three-point lead, 18-15, following errant play from their counterparts. However, in keeping with the flow of the first set, UP once again reduced their deficit to just one, as the scoreboard soon found itself reading 18-17. With the set in the balance, it was the Marata-Espejo duo who unleashed an effective run to reach match point before eventually ending the first set in their favor, 21-19.
The second set began differently from the first, as the Green Spikers took the initiative in taking the lead, 6-3. They maintained the lead with constant attacks while playing with better floor defense compared to the first set. More mistakes from the red shirts meant that their counterparts raced to a 10-7 lead, which quickly became a 12-9 lead. The Lipata-Torotoro pair, upon seeing the scoreline, raised their tempo and intensity, which caught their opponents off guard. The Fighting Maroons’ surge saw the game quickly tied up at 12-all. Following this, the Taft mainstays put all their efforts into regaining their lead but were constantly caught up by the Diliman-based dyad. The set mirrored the closely-matched nature of the first set, but service reception errors from La Salle paired with clutch digs from UP saw the second set conclude in favor of the University of the Philippines, 21-19.
The third and final set opened with a momentous run from UP, as they instantly led 5-1, forcing La Salle to take an early timeout. Marata initially stopped the bleeding with a cross-court kill, which helped recover the deficit to just two points, 6-4. The Green Spikers’ efforts to even the score were successful, as the tie was forced at 10-all, putting the crucial third set at a critical stage. With the two sides of the court nervous, neither was able to take sustainable leads going into the match-winning points. At 13-all, a cross-court shot by Espejo put the Lasallians at match point, 14-13. Yet, the Fighting Maroons forced a deuce before taking the lead, 15-14. Once again, a deuce was forced at 15-all after another inaccurate play from UP. With the result once again up in the air, the Maroons took a 16-15 lead before an attack error from Espejo ended the matchup in favor of the partnership from Diliman, 17-15.
Errors bled green
With the Green Spikers determined to rebound, Marata and Espejo immediately set the tone as they capitalized on the Tamaraws’ error-filled start to build an early 4-1 cushion. The Green-and-White duo easily found their groove on the sand, utilizing down-the-line hits and well-plotted cut shots to keep DLSU in control. A brief Tamaraw surge came midway into the match as Kyle Retiza and Francisco Postorioso tried to keep FEU within reach, delivering an off-the-block hit and a deceiving floater that trimmed the gap to 9-7. Espejo wasted no time and responded with a towering hit stitched with a clean line ball conversion by Marata, thrashing the FEU defense and restoring a comfortable cushion at 13-8. It was only up for the Taft-based tandem as they continued to widen the separation from this point, punishing FEU’s mounting errors while Espejo repeatedly outmaneuvered the defense with his familiar cross-drop slides, stretching the lead at 19-14. With momentum firmly on DLSU’s side, Marata’s top-spin hit pushed the Green Spikers to set point, and despite a struggling attempt by FEU to extend the frame, a Retiza miscue behind the service line eventually sealed the winning gates as DLSU dominated the opener, 21-16.
As the second set opened, the match became an exchange of errors. Espejo’s heavy hand from both the line and the front opened three straight miscues from FEU, handing La Salle an early cushion, 4-1. The Green Spikers became complacent, as the Postorioso and Retiza tandem capitalized on the wobble and executed to cut the lead down to one, 5-4. Despite a sharp spike in the middle from Postorioso, Espejo was there to charm the ball off the block, pushing the Lasallians ahead, 8-5. The Lasallians read through FEU’s third-ball tendencies with precision and used it to their advantage as Espejo nailed high-risk spots down the line, keeping control of the lead, 11-8. The Green-and-White’s fatigue eventually caught up and hampered their execution, giving FEU back-to-back freebies, 11-9. Errors emerged as the running storyline of the set from Marata’s service troubles to the Tamaraws’ own string of mistakes. Despite DLSU finding success through Espejo’s offense and even capitalizing on Retiza’s mistimed tip, both sides continued to trade service faults, net touches, and broken connections deep into the frame.
The match pushed for a shift from miscues to gritty rallies, with Espejo turning aggressive and settling at the net, while Marata displayed craftiness with finger tip pushes and varied shot attempts to open a pocket of space. Despite stretches of inconsistency, La Salle’s offensive and defensive grit was enough to push them to close out the set beyond errors, 21-17.
So close yet so far
Eager to get their maiden win of the season, the Lady Spikers opened the first set with intent to establish control. However, this was mirrored by the Lady Falcons as the score kept close. The scoreline soon read 5-all, with neither side still able to make a run. Eventually, DLSU managed to do so with an ace from Raagas and a corner pocket shot from Buis, 10-7. Yet, to the dismay of the Lasallians, the Adamsonians soon evened following the game’s first technical timeout and lengthy rally wins at 12-all. Still, the Nitura-Barera duo could not pull ahead as more attacking errors saw the tally favor the Green-and-White once again, 15-12. The Falcons once again reduced the deficit with a kill from Nitura and an ace from Barrera. Getting to the set’s vital stage, Buis of La Salle went on a run with an on-the-line kill and clever overball to boost the Taft mainstays’ lead to 19-15. But despite being only two points from taking the set, it was the Lady Falcons who went on a powerful run to not only reduce the deficit but tie the match at 19-all. The Raagas-Buis tandem was stunned toward the crucial set-deciding points as Nitura forced an error to reach match point before executing a service ace to win the set for Adamson, 21-19.
Refusing to let the match slip away, the Taft-based squad entered the second frame with renewed aggression, engaging the San Marcelino-based squad in a tight exchange of errors and kills early on. The breakthrough came when the Green-and-White capitalized on a massive block to stifle an Adamson rally, establishing a commanding 11-6 cushion, which was their largest lead of the game. In response, the Lady Falcons tried to mount a comeback with a well-placed push shot and a relentless 3-0 run, forcing a DLSU timeout at 13-8. The Lady Spikers initially held firm, but the San Marcelino-based duo refused to go quietly, punishing La Salle’s defensive lapses with dives, strong attacks, and a string of aces to trim the deficit to a solitary point, 18-17. With the set hanging in the balance, the Raagas-Buis tandem displayed composure under pressure and unleashed a decisive closing run capped by a sharp service ace to seize the set and force a decider, 21-17.
Despite the morale-boosting equalizer, the Lasallians failed to carry their momentum into the final set, immediately crumbling under Adamson’s service pressure. The Lady Falcons opened with a blistering 3-0 run of aces, leaving the Lady Spikers scrambling to fix their reception. DLSU attempted to stop the bleeding with a timeout while trailing 10-5, hoping to stabilize their floor defense and mount a crawl-back. However, the break did little to cool off the opposing offense as the Lady Falcons remained relentless, punishing the Green-and-White’s reception woes with a barrage of attacks. Unable to find a rhythm or an answer to the heavy service game, La Salle watched the gap widen and eventually yielded the match, 15-7.
Eager to alter their sands of fate, the Taft-based squads return to the bay with different missions in sight. The Lady Spikers, still searching for their long-awaited breakthrough, look to finally break into the win column against the UE Lady Warriors at 9:15 am, while the Green Spikers aim to reinforce their early momentum when they face the AdU Soaring Falcons at 2 pm today, November 29, at the same venue.
