IT’S not how you start. It’s how you finish.
De La Salle University Lady Spikers survived the blockbuster start by the Ateneo Lady Eagles to post a scrambling 21-25, 29-27, 25-22, 25-20 victory and take a 1-0 lead in their best-of-three championship during UAAP Season 79 women’s volleyball finals held Tuesday, May 2 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Ateneo took the first set, 25-21, but the Lady Spikers, relying on their steady blocking at the net, won the next two, 29-27 and 25-22.
Ateneo seemed in command in the middle of the fourth set as the Lady Spikers trailed, 14-16, but the Lady Eagles lost their hold on the game after consecutive errors by Jia Morada and Jhoana Maraguinot.
La Salle’s veteran setter Kim Fajardo then took over the match.
Fajardo caught the Ateneo defense flat-footed as she dropped the ball to the backline to push La Salle to a 22-19 lead. Fajardo then unloaded a service ace to hike the score to 23-19 for La Salle. The Lady Spikers brought the game to the brink on another spiking attack, 24-19.
Michelle Morente stopped the bleeding briefly, 24-20. But Fajardo engineered the final quick attack to end the match. Fajardo set the ball two feet above the middle of the net. Kim Dy then hammered the volleyball into the left sideline to end the match.
Meanwhile, the Ateneo Blue Eagles survived a furious rally by National University, 25-22, 21-25, 22-25, 25-18, 15-13, to move within a win of a third consecutive UAAP men’s volleyball crown.
The Blue Eagles almost squandered a 13-8 edge in the final set but recovered in time to post the win. Three-time MVP Marck Espejo scored the point which pushed Ateneo to match point before Rex Intal blocked Fauzi Ismail’s attack to clinch the match.
Espejo scored 29 points, Tony Koyfman had 18, Josh Villanueva chipped in 14 and Intal had 11.
The Blue Eagles had to work off some rust accumulated after three weeks of inactivity and found themselves trailing by a set, 1-2.
The second match of the best-of-three playoff is on Saturday.
For NU Ismail scored 22 points, Bryan Bagunas had 19 markers, skipper Francis Saura added 11 and Kim Malabunga chipped in 10.