Looking at the Ateneo Lady Eagles before
their UP match
by rick olivares
At 4-1 with undefeated UP on
deck, this is the crossroads of the season for the Ateneo Lady Eagles. They
close out the first round against La Salle. They could go 2-0, 1-1, or 0-2.
Either they vault to the top of the standings or stay within striking distance or
drop to fourth or fifth.
These are the games where you
learn what the team is made of. Sure, there’s the second round where teams make
adjustments. As we said at the start of the season, as many as six teams will
vie for the four Final Four slots. One loss is tough but somewhat acceptable.
Two, three, you have to be concerned. Four, well…
For a team to win that coveted
championship, a team must be able to not only hang but defeat a to-seeded
squad. A Lady Eagle fan might point to the Season 76 team that came from behind
to defeat NU in the semi-finals and La Salle in the finals after losing both
elimination round matches.
That sort of thing doesn’t happen
every day even if the College of St. Benilde pulled the trick against San
Sebastian two years ago in the NCAA. Besides, that Lady Eagles possessed a
weapon of mass destruction in Alyssa Valdez.
This Ateneo team is theoretically
deeper and more talented. They have veterans in Mich Morente, Jho Maraguinot,
Jia Morado, Bea De Leon, and Kim Gequillana who all played significant minutes
during the title runs of Seasons 76-77. There are others who experienced the
championship but played few minutes or were injured. And they have some
talented newcomers. Now this team, save for Katrina Tolentino and Maddi Madayag,
played in the last V-League Collegiate Conference finals and that’s good too.
But that isn’t close to the atmosphere in the UAAP. You cannot approximate it.
They took down UST impressively
and that might have set the Golden Tigresses on their downward spiral. They
looked dead in the water against FEU before that impressive comeback. They took
down the teams they need to do so in Adamson and UE (although it was a tad
disappointing to see their intensity level drop late in the game). They looked
bad for much of the loss to NU. Now there are the two other heavyweights in UP
and La Salle who showed that they too can bounce back after a loss.
The Ateneo Lady Eagles, under
Anusorn Bundit are like a diesel-engine – they start slow. During Season 76,
they dropped two matches in the first round and two in the second. But if you
look at their second round, they took one set from NU and this time didn’t drop
a set to Adamson and UST who they battled tooth and nail in the first round.
It was the same in the undefeated
Season 77, the lost six sets that first round then only one the rest of the
way.
Last Season 78, they looked like
they would steamroll the rest of the league en route to a third consecutive
title. However, they lost first to La Salle to close out the first round then
lost to UP to open the second round. They righted the ship and won the next
seven matches including the Final Four outing versus UP. In the finals versus
La Salle, they lost the first match, took Game Two, won the first set of Game Three
then dropped the next three sets. Were they running on fumes then? Sure La
Salle raised it to another level. But it was Ateneo’s to lose.
This year, they are back to the
way they played during Season 76 and 77. They tease with potential and distress
with inconsistency. That only means that the Lady Eagles are still getting into
a rhythm. I guess they are just a slow starting team. That’s good too because
you peak at the right time.
Bundit believes a strong start
and taking the first set is crucial in beating UP. Sure it is. But more than
that it is consistency and raising the level of their game. The Lady Maroons
have displayed a lot of energy in their games. While they aren’t a finished
product, they sure do bring it.
Both Ateneo and UP trained in
Japan in the pre-season. They saw the quick transition from defense to offense
as well as the fine and precise execution of plays.
When the two meet, we will see
what they exactly learned and if one team will reassert its mastery or if the
other can finally vault over the other team that has lorded it over UAAP
volleyball in the past six years.
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