ATENEO’s Alyssa Valdez and Bea Tan went thru the wringer before outclassing Michelle Gumabao and rookie Camille Cruz of La Salle, 21-19, 19-21, 15-2, for a second straight win in the UAAP women’s beach volleyball tournament Sunday at the UE Caloocan sand court.
After the Lady Archers barely took the second set, the Lady Eagles dominated the deciding frame behind the ferocious attacks by Valdez at the net.
Ateneo thus joined University of Santo Tomas and Far Eastern University for the early lead with identical 2-0 slates.
The Tigresses pair of Maru Banaticla and Judy Caballejo beat National University’s Mary Grace Diesta and Lucille Bayron, 21-12, 21-16, while the Lady Tamaraws tandem of Shedd dela Peña and Loryvel Faytaren outplayed Aia del Mundo and Pau Genido of University of the Philippines, 21-8, 21-12.
The Lady Eagles, whose best finish was in the tournament was second place in 2007 behind Charo Soriano and Patti Taganas, followed up their impressive straight sets win against the Lady Bulldogs the other day.
Gumabao and Cruz played much better than in the opening day loss to UST, but this was not enough for La Salle to suffer its second straight loss.
Defending champion Adamson had another tough outing, as Pau Soriano and Sheila Pineda survived the University of the East pair of Jimberly Dawn Dizon and Jessica Paron, 22-20, 17-21, 15-11.
The Lady Falcons improved to 1-1 record to tie the Lady Maroons, while the Lady Bulldogs joined the Lady Archers and the Lady Warriors the bottom of the standings at 0-2.
In men’s play, FEU (2-0) subdued La Salle (0-2), 21-15, 21-15, UST (2-0) downed UE (1-1), 21-17, 21-19, UP (2-0) nipped NU (0-2), 21-13, 18-21, 15-10, and Adamson (1-1) turned back Ateneo (0-2), 21-14, 21-13. (TJ)
