Eagles land in volley finals - finally

MANILA, Philippines - Ateneo de Manila U’s long wait for a UAAP finals appearance is over as the second-seeded Lady Eagles tripped No. 3 University of Santo Tomas, 25-19, 25-16, 22-25, 25-19, to reach the Season 74 women’s volleyball championship round yesterday at the FilOil Flying V Arena.

The Lady Eagles turned to the solid plays of captain Fille Cainglet and rookie Alyssa Valdez, who both punched in 22 big markers to dispose of the Tigresses and forge an anticipated championship showdown with archrivals La Salle.

The finale will blast off on Wednesday with the defending champion DLSU Lady Spikers enjoying a thrice-to-beat advantage, owing to their 14-0 sweep of the elims. Ateneo expects hunger to come to fore as it has not won a collegiate volleyball title since going all the way to the NCAA crown way back in 1976.

“Nagbunga na rin yung pinaghirapan namin (Our efforts have borne fruit and we’re now in the finals),” said AdMU coach Roger Gorayeb, who himself was quite surprised how his wards have progressed this soon.

“Next year pa yung prediction ko, pero mabilis na nag-grow yung mga bata. Nandito na kami, kukunin na namin ito (I’m actually predicting a good season by next year yet but the team’s growth is just this fast. Since we’re already here, we might as well go for it),” he added.

UST’s male counterparts, meanwhile, salvaged the Thomasians’ pride by hacking out a 20-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-12 drubbing of Adamson to secure the first finals slot in their side of the competition.

The Tigers, who ranked second after the two-round prelims, relied heavily on four players – Mark Lafafara (17 points), Salvador Juan Depante III (16), Christian Arbasto (15) and Romnick Rico (15), to extinguish the No. 3 Falcons – and stay on course for a “five-peat.” – Olmin Leyba

The Espana-based spikers await the winner of the other Final Four duel between top seed Far Eastern and No. 4 DLSU. The Archers forged a rubbermatch after thwarting the Tams, 25-18, 14-25, 25-23, 25-20, last Wednesday.

Valdez, a rookie standout from UST High, delivered the killer blows against her former school, knocking down eight crucial points in the fourth set, including a clean hit that sealed Ateneo’s trip to the championship.

Maika Ortiz scored 22 points for the Tigresses, whose title slump now stretched to two seasons.