Lady Eagles shock Tams, near final

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo sustained its form coming off a playoff romp over San Sebastian and pounced on the sidelining of Bernadeth Pons to surprise top seed Far Eastern U, 25-14, 28-26, 25-22, yesterday and close in on the Shakey’s V-League Collegiate Conference Finals in the post Alyssa Valdez-era at the Philsports Arena in Pasig.

Skipper Michelle Morente and Bea de Leon blasted in 13 hits apiece while Kim Gequillana and Ana Gopico backed them up with 12 and 11 points, respectively, as the Lady Eagles gained the headstart in their best-of-three semifinal showdown in the mid-season conference of the league sponsored by Shakey’s.

The Loyola-based spikers shoot for the clincher tomorrow with Game 3, if necessary, set on Saturday.

“We just played confident and helped each other as a team,” said Morente.

The win avenged Ateneo’s three-straight loss to FEU in the last quarterfinals playdate that dropped the two-time champion Lady Eagles to a playoff for the last semis seat with the Lady Stags, whom they smothered in three last Saturday.

Ateneo rode on that momentum in their return bout with FEU while cashing in on Pons’ absence to pound out the victory.

Pons, who scored 10 hits in FEU’s win over Ateneo last week, was supposed to help anchor the team’s bid but sprained her left ankle during warm-up and failed to see action.

Without Pons, the Lady Tams struggled in their offense while failing to neutralize the Lady Eagles’ attack with sloppy reception and a series of miscues, enabling Ateneo to dominate the first set.

FEU looked poised to evening things up when it surged to a 24-21 lead in the second but succumbed to Ateneo’s strong fightback and yielded the set as Gequillana, De Leon and Gopico took charge for the Lady Eagles, who continued to buck the odds following the graduation of Valdez, who anchored the team’s back-to-back title romp in 2011-12 editions of the league backed by Mikasa as official ball and Accel as official outfitter.

The Lady Tams tried to strike back in the third, forcing a 22-all count but Gequillana banged in a down-the-line hit and after FEU’s Heather Guinoo’s spike went long, the Lady Eagles’ foiled the Lady Tams’ attack with another block.