Ateneo spikers trip Lady Bulldogs in 4

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo prevailed over National University, 25-17, 25-16, 22-25, 26-24, to catch up with its victim at second spot with 1-1 yesterday in the UAAP Season 73 women’s volleyball tournament at The Arena.

The Lady Eagles stormed to a 13-0 lead – the hottest start since University of Santo Tomas raced ahead to 21-0 against University of the East last season – to jump the gun on the Lady Bulldogs en route to a two-set cushion.

After dropping the third set and trailing in the fourth, 5-9, the Lady Eagles got a big break when the Lady Bulldogs committed a rotational fault. This resulted to a two-point deduction on NU and an additional point for AdMU that made it a 6-7 ballgame.

From there, Bea Pascual, rookie sensation Jorella de Jesus, Fille Cainglet and Gretchen Ho struck off the net to clinch the match for AdMU. De Jesus punched in four successive kills to give Ateneo a 23-20 edge then after NU evened things up at 24-24, Cainglet and Ho took turns for the winning points.

De Jesus had 18 markers on 17 kills for AdMU while Cainglet and Pascual added 12 and 9, respectively.

NU, which won over Far Eastern on opening day, was led by Mervic Mangui’s 16 and Lucille Bayron’s 12.

Meanwhile, last year’s runner-up FEU took the solo lead in the men’s division at 2-0 with its 25-18, 25-18, 25-18 verdict over University of the East.

The NU Bulldogs fought back from two-sets down to post a 16-25, 22-25, 25-16, 25-22, 15-13 triumph over Ateneo and improve to 1-1.

The Warriors and the Eagles dropped to 0-2.