Sports

As Final Four nears, Ateneo faces crucial battle vs Adamson


Faith Nisperos (left) will lead Ateneo in an effort to find holes in the Adamson defence.

Faith Nisperos (left) will lead Ateneo in an effort to find holes in the Adamson defence. —UAAP MEDIA

The door to the Finals at the UAAP Season 84 women’s volleyball tournament is starting to close and the defending champion Ateneo is being hindered by Adamson in the race to win tickets to the next round.

Blue Eagles coach Oliver Almadro is aware of the urgency his team must focus on as they prepare to face the Lady Falcons in a match that could very well decide the fate of both teams.

“We study one day at a time, today we study and tomorrow we practice,” says Almadro. “Let’s see what we can do with our game with Adamson.”

The reigning queens know they have a lot of preparation and research to do, having lost their first game against the Lady Falcons, 23-25, 25-19, 25-15, 25-12, last month.

They don’t want that to happen again on Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena.

“Our goal is to reach the Finals. We have to do good tomorrow and do good again and again,” added Almadro, whose scoreline was 6-5 (win-lose) against the Lady Falcons.

National U has practically cornered the No. 1 spot, with La Salle gaining a crucial advantage over the University of Santo Tomas for second. The top two teams at the bottom of the knockout round receive bonuses for two semi-finals — as long as the Lady Bulldogs don’t pass their qualifying matches.

Ateneo doesn’t care about that right now, it just has to win to maintain his title defense.

“We know it’s an important game for us, we just have to do our job. I have to do my job,” says Ateneo star Vanessa Gandler. “I guess it’s just being in the moment and controlling what we can do now. Now is the time to recover, then tomorrow we train [against Adamson]. ”

Things will get tougher for Ateneo after the 6:30pm game against Adamson. The Blue Eagles next face arch-rivals La Salle before ending the knockout stages with a battle against the University of the Philippines (UP).

The Lady Maroons face many difficulties in their bid to reach the Finals: They battled the perfect Lady Bulldogs on Saturday with a loss that dashed their hopes.

And UP coach Godfrey Okumu has a pragmatic view of his team’s situation: “There’s only one way to go. [if we want to make the Final Four]—We went out there and won. And strong ending. If we don’t think of a strong end, we will end it all.”

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