Lady Eagles turn back Falcons, nail 3rd win in row

MANILA, Philippines — Ateneo recovered from a fourth set blowout with a strong windup in the decider, carving out a 25-18, 14-25, 25-18, 15-25, 15-10 victory over Adamson yesterday for its third straight in the 80th UAAP women’s volleyball tournament at the Filoil Flying V Center in San Juan.

Skipper Maddie Madayag and Jhoanna Maraguinot took charge in the fifth set before Kat Tolentino and Madayag came through with back-to-back blocks to finish off the Lady Falcons and help sustain the Lady Eagles’ surge after dropping their first two matches to FEU and NU.

Later in the day, La Salle bounced back from its stinging defeat to National U with a 25-18, 25-17, 25-20 rout of University of the East as the Lady Spikers improved to 4-1.

Reigning MVP Majoy Baron and Desiree Cheng hammered in 13 hits apiece while Aduke Ogunsanya backed them up with 12 markers as they dominated the Lady Warriors from start to finish three days after dropping a 24-26, 25-19, 25-22, 17-25, 14-16 loss to the Lady Bulldogs last Sunday.

UE fell to 0-5.

“This is our first five-set win (of the season), we showed that we really fought hard and the younger guys stepped up,” said Madayag, who finished with 14 points, including the match-clinching block off Chiara Permentilla.

Maraguinot also settled down after she became a little bit impatient in the fourth, which they lost by 10.

“I was overeager in the fourth because I badly wanted to erase our deficit. But I settled down in the fifth,” said Maraguinot, who ended up with a team-high 15 hits including 13 on kills.

Despite their surge, Madayag and Maraguinot said they’re still far from reaching peak form.

“C or C plus,” said Madayag when asked how she would grade her team while Maraguinot gauged their performance at 70-80 percent level.