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| The vicotrious Ateneo men's volleyball squad. |
By Ricky Manliguis
Ateneo carved out a perferct season, outlasting National University in another epic five-setter, 18-25, 25-16, 20-25,25-18, 15-13, in Game 2 of the UAAP LXXIX men’s volleyball finals at the Araneta Coliseum.
In a similar scenario as in Game 1,
the Blue Eagles rallied back from a 1-2 match deficit behind the heroics of
four-time league MVP Marck Espejo to secure the three-peat and an immaculate
16-0 season.
Trailing in the fourth set, the Eagles
unleashed a 6-0 spurt anchored on captain Karl Baysa’s back-to-back service
aces for a 12-7 cushion.
But the Bulldogs rebounded and even
grabbed an early 4-1 lead in the decider, before a service ace by setter Ish
Polvorosa capped another run that knotted the count at 8-all.
After a 13-10 Ateneo lead, the
Bulldogs tied the match again at 13-all with a Francis Saura kill block. Rex
Intal scored on a quick attack for championship point, before Espejo finished
the match with a dramatic rejection of a Fauzi Ismail missile.
Espejo unloaded 27 points on 25
attacks and two blocks, while Tony Koyfaman, the newly-minted Finals MVP, added
11 markers. Polvorosa issued 62 excellent
sets translated into ADMU’s 57 spikes.
Rex Intal and Josh Villanueva both
scored 10 points in their final UAAP game.
"From the very beginning, hindi
namin ine-expect na maka-sweep, but the Lord is so good. He gave us the
strength, and he rescued us," said
the emotionally-charged coach Oliver Almadro after the match.
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| "Hindi namin in-expect na sweep but the Lord is good. It's the work of the Lord," said Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro on team's historic drive to the title. |
"I admire my players, the
maturity and resiliency of my players. They just believed na kaya nila 'yung
imposible,"he later added.
The win also was a vindication for the
Ateneo mentor, a culmination of all the struggles he endured before claiming
the three-peat.
“They (Ateneo) took
me back, believed in me. I didn't promise them anything, I didn't promise them
anything,” he added, tears rolling down from his eyes.
“But they really,
really trusted me. My players trusted me. They know how hard I am, but they
trusted me.”
It was another painful finals defeat
for NU, which last won the UAAP crown in Season 76. Ismail finished with 24
points on 19 attacks, while Bryan Bagunas added 20 and Kim Malabunga 11.
Follow him on Twitter: @Teaching_Hero
Follow him on Twitter: @Teaching_Hero
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