The DLSU Green And Lady Shuttlers’ second outing concludes in contrasting turnouts against the AdU Soaring Falcons and ADMU Blue Eagles in their opening weekend.
The DLSU Green and Lady Shuttlers came out of their respective UAAP Season 89 Men’s and Women’s Badminton Tournaments with mixed results earlier today, October 18, at the Gameville Central Park.
The Green Shuttlers put on a dominant display over the AdU Soaring Falcons as they cruised to a 4-1 victory by nabbing four straight wins in their singles and doubles stints after dropping the first match.
Meanwhile, the Lady Shuttlers were handed a beatdown courtesy of rivals ADMU Blue Eagles in a 4-1 drubbing. Ghiselle Bautista powered the Taft-based squad in the third singles match to claim the Green-and-White’s lone victory.
Tower defense
Starting cold, DLSU’s Joshua Cuarte and AdU’s John Saturinas’ opener featured matching four-corner strategies, testing the pair’s composure. Saturinas’ height advantage enabled the Soaring Falcon’s energy, while Cuarte was forced to charge shuttles, leading to the Green Shuttler’s numerous out-of-bounds violations that fed a consistent lead in favor of Adamson. As the first set finished at 21-16, Cuarte took a swift claim to the second set’s initial lead, 14-9. Tighter angled shots by the sides helped Cuarte avoid Saturinas’ reach and drain his energy. However, his powerful returns repeatedly sacrificed accuracy, allowing Saturinas to trail closely. Saturinas replied with high shots to allow himself a window to reposition and level the scoreboard to 15-all. This strategy bagged AdU the set and match, 21-19 and 2-0, respectively.
La Salle’s prized Season 88 rookie, Lovic Javier, proved enduring despite Steveric Muring’s court control. The taller Javier ran corner-to-corner, delivering smashes from every position alongside high balls to recover between laps across the court. He flipped the tables with a 10-6 lead, which he boosted to a 21-14 with constant smashes testing Muring’s reflexes. Now rested after the switch, the two smash-heavy athletes paced the scoring to a tight crawl. At 11-all, Javier employed tight-angled shots to boost four points higher. Muring managed to tighten the score slightly, forcing an overtime through aggressive direct shots that surprised Javier. However, Javier reached a 23-21 resolution to claim a 2-0 victory and the Green Shuttlers’ first match win of the day, leveling the duel at 1-all.
Looking to boost their standings, AJ Jurada and Rey Dalimo-os maintained a consistent lead, with only their errors boosting the Adamson’s pair, leading to a 6-all tie. Despite the Falcons targeting Jurada, Dalimo-os led the defense and covered his offensive specialist to prevent fatigue. The Green Shuttlers’ strategy of pairing a short defender with a taller offensive player enabled powerful smashes and grounded defense to take the first set 21-13. The Green-and-White pushed for the strategy, further maintaining their dominance with focused fire onto one defender at a time to gradually drain their energy, eventually capping off the second set at 21-14 and the match at 2-0.
Karl Contreras and Zaki Layno sailed roughly twice in dual 21-19 sets, 2-0 overall. With a similar set-up, the Soaring Falcons focused on the shorter defender Contreras, who had weaker returns. Despite an early lead, 7-4, the Falcons gradually fatigued Contreras, prompting Layno to cover him. At 15-all, instead of targeting a single defender, the Green Shuttlers opted to target the opening between the Adamsonians to capture the first set. Both sides repeated their strategies in the second set, but the Green-and-White shifted their target to AdU’s Prince Betaisar. Making fewer mistakes on their returns, Contreras led the scoring, 17-10. However, in a late-game shocker, Adamson delivered triple three-point streaks by targeting the gap between La Salle’s rotation, 20-19, still in La Salle’s favor. However, a short-lived rally, ending in a net violation, 2-0, rewarded the Lasallians with a guaranteed victory, with their standings boosted to 3-1.
Heading into the last singles match, DLSU’s Gift Linaban alternated between controlled four-corner drives and direct smashes to confuse AdU’s Nathaniel Acedillo’s telegraphing. Breezing through the match, Linaban repeated his strategy and gradually drained Acedillo. Despite numerous errors, Linaban maintained his dominance, 21-16. Linaban expected another dominant finish; however, Acedillo captured an eight-point streak, 15-11. Linaban momentarily lost control of the court as Acedillo dragged him around. Calling a timeout in the match’s final minutes, Linaban composed himself and replied with a five-point streak, focusing further on Acedillo’s offside. At 20-19, Acedillo looked to kickstart overtime in a lengthy rally that had spectators standing. The long-winded exchange had both sides speeding across the court, until a final long-ball by Acedillo crashed outside the court’s lines, erupting the stands in mixed emotions that were silenced by Linaban’s Archer’s pose as they announced the 21-19 conclusion, 2-0 overall, and a 4-1 standing for the Green Shuttlers.
Lone getaway
Going into the Women’s clashes, Angela Manrique faced off against ADMU’s Althea Ocampo to open their day. Ocampo dominated with vicious smashes that were too much to handle, while Manrique established a foothold with cross-court strikes, ultimately trailing by three, 7-4. Despite keeping within striking distance throughout, Manrique’s precise placements could not gain momentum as Ocampo blew the lid open with an uncontested run to claim the first set, 21-13. Entering the second set, Ocampo was hot right off the bat, stacking smashes for an 11-2 lead going into a technical timeout. Long rallies were met by the Blue Eagles’ crushing counters as Manrique’s responses could not taste a point, leading to Ateneo claiming the first match with a 21-3 set victory, 2-0.
The second match saw Lady Tuario enter the fray against blue shirt Jochelle Alvarez. The first set culminated in a tight contest with both players displaying bursts of brilliance. Despite prolonged trading, the Blue Eagle racket gained the upper hand late into the set, running away with a 21-17 victory. This allowed Alvarez to charge forward, as a fatigued Tuario could not handle consecutive smashes, losing out on service possession and court positioning. The Lady Shuttlers ultimately yielded the second match with a second-set defeat, 21-9, and 2-0.
The first doubles match saw Venice Salapong and Ma. Army Espe dueling against Katipunan’s Daena Castro and Angel Valle. The former was a well-oiled machine, boasting one-two combos with Espe anchoring the rear and Salapong defending the frontline. After a 4-all deadlock, the Blue Eagles came out on top with an 11-9 lead as Castro’s counters were swift and deadly. Despite flashes of hope, the Blue Eagles took flight for a 21-15 victory. The rallies began to last longer in the second set, evident in Ateneo’s strategy of tiring out the Green-and-White. The same problem arose: fatigue, as DLSU could not find their offensive footing, ultimately falling 21-9 and 2-0, as ADMU secured victory for the day at 3-0 overall.
Going into the second doubles match, the Lady Shuttlers pitted Athena Villanueva and Erin Vitangcol against Althea and Andrea Hernandez of the Blue Eagles. Both squads put on an early masterclass of precise hits and great positioning at 6-all. The match saw tight rallies, with ADMU coming out on top after capitalizing on DLSU counterattacks, claiming the first set 21-11. The second set had errors plaguing La Salle; despite bringing the score to 16-10, the thorn of errors bled them out, as the game ended in a 21-12 defeat.
In the concluding match, Bautista repped the Lady Shuttlers against ADMU’s Fayina Dolor in the singles duel. Bautista volleyed her strikes, a weak point that pierced Dolor’s defense, as the tight contest saw DLSU come out on top 13-12. The set raged on as Bautista continued to inflate her lead with the strategy, while ADMU crumbled late with tired legs, leading to the Green-and-White’s first set win of the day, 21-16. Cracks in the Eagle’s flight arose, as Bautista burst out of the gates red hot to take a 7-1 commanding lead in the second frame. From that point onward, Ateneo could not get a taste of the spoils, as Bautista planted her foothold and refused to let up, finishing cool and collected with a 21-10 win and the first victory of the day, 2-0, concluding the Green-and-White’s women’s stint trailing 4-1.
Looking to boost their standings, the DLSU Green and Lady Shuttlers set their sights on their next outing against the UP Fighting Maroons and AdU Lady Falcons, respectively, this Wednesday, October 21, at the same venue.