MANILA, Philippines (UPDATED) – The De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Spikers defeated their archrivals Ateneo Lady Eagles in 4 sets, 25-20, 25-17, 26-24, and 25-20, on Saturday, March 3, at the Mall of Asia Arena. 

After dropping the 3rd set, the Lady Spikers took control of the 4th set as Ateneo’s defense continued to suffer. Three straight errors by DLSU and a drop ball allowed Ateneo to rally back from a 20-14 disadvantage and cut the deficit to two, 21-19. A block by Kim Dy brought it to match point, and a service error by Jules Samonte surrendered the match to DLSU. 

The Lady Spikers recovered from their loss to the Adamson Lady Falcons to snap Ateneo’s 4-game winning streak. 

DLSU now stands at 5-2 while Ateneo falls to a 4-3 record in the UAAP Season 80 Women’s Volleyball tournament. 

Dy attained her season-high of 21 points off 11 spikes, 7 blocks and 3 aces. Desiree Cheng made a team-high of 7 aces in her 11 points while making 11 receptions. 

Jho Maraguinot led the Lady Eagles with 13 points while making 16 excellent digs. Deanna Wong, however, won in the setting game as she made 36 excellent sets compared to Michelle Cobb’s 22. 

Ateneo was without their leading libero Dani Ravena and their head coach Anusorn “Tai” Bundit, as he flew back to Thailand to celebrate his father-in-law’s first death anniversary.

The defending champions started their domination with an 8-point lead over the Lady Eagles by the second technical timeout. Ateneo rallied back from the deficit to make it a 6-point game, 23-19. It was not enough, as Cobb brought it to set point with a service ace, and Baron closed out the first set.

The Lady Eagles attempted to shift the momentum in the second set, as Kat Tolentino gifted Ateneo with an 8-5 lead. The Lady Spikers capitalized on Ateneo’s errors to make a 10-0 run, punctuated by Cheng’s 3 straight service aces.

Samonte committed an attack error and Baron gave the Lady Spikers a quick 2-0 lead to the match.

The Lady Eagles took control of the 3rd set as they got off to a 9-point lead over DLSU, 19-10. Ateneo eventually blew the lead as the defending champions rallied back from a 21-11 deficit with a 10-0 run.

Tin Tiamzon took the lead at 23-22 and an attack error from Tolentino brought DLSU to match point. The Lady Eagles managed to extend the set and Maddie Madayag brought Ateneo to their first set point, 25-24. Tolentino made up for her previous error as her crosscourt kill gave Ateneo one set in the match. 

The Scores:

DLSU (3) – Dy 21, Tiamzon 13, Cheng 11, Baron 10, Ogunsanya 10, Cobb 6, Saga 1. 

Ateneo (1) – Maraguinot 13, Tolentino 12, de Leon 11, Madayag 10, Samonte 7, Wong 2. 

– Rappler.com