Saturday, February 27, 2016

Ateneo seeks to sweep first round of UAAP women's volleyball

Games today at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum:

8am – UST vs Adamson (Men)
10am – Ateneo vs NU (Men)
1230pm – UE vs Adamson (Women)
430pm – La Salle vs Ateneo (Women)

Ateneo seeks to complete a sweep as they face off against rivals La Salle in the highlight of the volleyball quadruple header at the SMART-Araneta Coliseum later today.

The Lady Eagles are on a 24-match winning streak, dating back to the Season 76 finals, and the Lady Spikers are looking to put an end to that run, as well as their personal six-match losing streak, while also putting some gap between themselves and idle third place team National University.

Both teams have faced each other in the finals for the past four seasons, with either team snatching two apiece.

La Salle head coach Ramil de Jesus is looking at reducing their errors while at the same time being able to stay with Ateneo's level of play. Even with Ara Galang's return from injury, the Lady Spikers have dominated as a team in the statistical categories, led by their reliables Mika Reyes and Kim Fajardo, alongside the emergence of Majoy Baron and Tin Tiamzon.

In contrast, Alyssa Valdez chose to downplay the significance of this matchup, noting that "It's just another game for us." The MVP adds that she is "making the most" out of her final season.

The other women's volleyball match sees UE attempt to snap their 51-game losing streak against Adamson at 1230pm. The Lady Warriors ran into the Ateneo buzzsaw last Wednesday, losing in straight sets, but Francis Vicente inserted a couple of new wrinkles during that match, including trying out Roselle Baliton as a setter.

There will also be a scheduled finals rematch in the men's division, with Ateneo and NU set to battle at 10am. Before that, Adamson is seeking to claim at least a tie atop the standings as they face UST in the first match of the day at 8am.

The UAAP had announced previously that there will be two sets of tickets to be sold for today's games. The first set covers the men's volleyball doubleheader and the UE-Adamson match, while the Ateneo-La Salle match will have its own set of tickets. The latter three matches will also be shown LIVE on ABS-CBN Sports + Action as well as on its sister HD channel.

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