Ateneo vs. UE
25-17, 25-19, 20-25, 16-25, 24-22
by rick olivares
During Ateneo’s first game of the season last Sunday, Roger Gorayeb, resplendent in blue, stood throughout the whole game perhaps an indication of how big it was going up against the Adamson Lady Falcons.
In this second match of the year versus the UE Amazons, he stood up only once during the first two sets and it was only for a few seconds. When his Lady Spikers committed an error or misplayed the ball, he planted his left hand into the side of his face in dismay.
By the time the game had reached a fifth set after UE had come back from two sets down, he was in a state of controlled fury. He threw down his bottle of mineral water in disgust during the disastrous fourth set when the Recto volleybelles wrested the momentum from his faltering squad.
The hallmark of last year’s offense was that the attack came from the wings and from the middle.
This year, a lack of heavy scoring from the middle has forced the open spikers to shoulder much of the attack load and that has made the offense somewhat predictable. Gorayeb concedes that the team is a year or two away from becoming a major contender but that doesn’t mean that his Lady Spikers will not give it the old college try in Season 71.
The UE squad may not make anyone quake in their sneakers more so after they played so poorly in the first two sets, but the Amazons of Coach Virginia De Jesus are certainly not wanting in spunk.
With Ateneo ahead 9-8 in the third set, the team lapsed into a series of errors and poor execution. UE forged ahead with 6 straight points to go up 9-14.
Another 8-0 blitz by UE that gave them a 13-21 lead guaranteed that there would be a fourth set. “Binigyan nila ng buhay,” explained one of media reporters covering the game as the crowd got into the now exciting match. “Medyo nag-relax.”
Against Adamson last weekend, the two brownouts changed the momentum for both teams. In this game that had all the makings of a laugher, the shift was more of the human kind.
It was a disturbing trend that Gorayeb noted also in the first match – a propensity to commit errors in bunches that tend to demoralize the team that sinks their play. And they had once more fallen prey to that against UE (the Lady Spikers average 38 errors a game).
.
If Charo Soriano scored the bulk of last year’s points, the good thing about this year is the attack is spread a little more. And in this match, the veterans – particularly Misha Quimpo and Bea Pascual as they chipped in 13 and 10 points to the team’s collective 79 points (their opponents surrendered 31 points off errors).
The team is young without a doubt but they showed remarkable resiliency in their last two matches that have both gone down the wire. Inexperience and all, this is a team that does not give up. And that builds character.
The fifth set featured eight lead changes and several errors that had a prolonged the suspense and the match.
With two points to go in the fifth set at 13-11, a service error by Quimpo gave some life back to UE. And when they had a chance to put Ateneo away at 20-21, Mary Grace Masankay returned the service error to notch the game at 21-all.
Then Pascual scored the last of her points off a spike. Angeline Gervacio added one of her own before Quimpo capped her best performance thus far as she finished off their equally resilient foes with a power drive UE got not receive.
After the match, the team had smiles on their faces as they got that hard-earned first win and Gorayeb’s first in the UAAP. The coach was understandably upset that it could have been a short afternoon for them. But look on the bright side, how good can this team be after they’ve played a few more games and collected a few more wins? Think of what we might see when Ateneo Lady Spikers are finally on?
In this second match of the year versus the UE Amazons, he stood up only once during the first two sets and it was only for a few seconds. When his Lady Spikers committed an error or misplayed the ball, he planted his left hand into the side of his face in dismay.
By the time the game had reached a fifth set after UE had come back from two sets down, he was in a state of controlled fury. He threw down his bottle of mineral water in disgust during the disastrous fourth set when the Recto volleybelles wrested the momentum from his faltering squad.
The hallmark of last year’s offense was that the attack came from the wings and from the middle.
This year, a lack of heavy scoring from the middle has forced the open spikers to shoulder much of the attack load and that has made the offense somewhat predictable. Gorayeb concedes that the team is a year or two away from becoming a major contender but that doesn’t mean that his Lady Spikers will not give it the old college try in Season 71.
The UE squad may not make anyone quake in their sneakers more so after they played so poorly in the first two sets, but the Amazons of Coach Virginia De Jesus are certainly not wanting in spunk.
With Ateneo ahead 9-8 in the third set, the team lapsed into a series of errors and poor execution. UE forged ahead with 6 straight points to go up 9-14.
Another 8-0 blitz by UE that gave them a 13-21 lead guaranteed that there would be a fourth set. “Binigyan nila ng buhay,” explained one of media reporters covering the game as the crowd got into the now exciting match. “Medyo nag-relax.”
Against Adamson last weekend, the two brownouts changed the momentum for both teams. In this game that had all the makings of a laugher, the shift was more of the human kind.
It was a disturbing trend that Gorayeb noted also in the first match – a propensity to commit errors in bunches that tend to demoralize the team that sinks their play. And they had once more fallen prey to that against UE (the Lady Spikers average 38 errors a game).
.
If Charo Soriano scored the bulk of last year’s points, the good thing about this year is the attack is spread a little more. And in this match, the veterans – particularly Misha Quimpo and Bea Pascual as they chipped in 13 and 10 points to the team’s collective 79 points (their opponents surrendered 31 points off errors).
The team is young without a doubt but they showed remarkable resiliency in their last two matches that have both gone down the wire. Inexperience and all, this is a team that does not give up. And that builds character.
The fifth set featured eight lead changes and several errors that had a prolonged the suspense and the match.
With two points to go in the fifth set at 13-11, a service error by Quimpo gave some life back to UE. And when they had a chance to put Ateneo away at 20-21, Mary Grace Masankay returned the service error to notch the game at 21-all.
Then Pascual scored the last of her points off a spike. Angeline Gervacio added one of her own before Quimpo capped her best performance thus far as she finished off their equally resilient foes with a power drive UE got not receive.
After the match, the team had smiles on their faces as they got that hard-earned first win and Gorayeb’s first in the UAAP. The coach was understandably upset that it could have been a short afternoon for them. But look on the bright side, how good can this team be after they’ve played a few more games and collected a few more wins? Think of what we might see when Ateneo Lady Spikers are finally on?
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