MANILA, Philippines — For the past seasons, the Ateneo Lady Eagles and the De La Salle Lady Spikers were always the clear frontrunners in UAAP women's volleyball.
But with the departure of key players and with other teams beefing up their rosters, the two teams found themselves in different situations.
The Lady Eagles started Season 80 with back-to-back losses but found their groove to win four straight.
The defending champions, meanwhile, looked good and actually looked fine through four games, only to suffer two straight setbacks, including an upset against the Adamson University Lady Falcons.
The archrivals will finally meet Saturday at the SM Mall of Asia Arena for the first time this season and here is where they stand.
ADMU Lady Eagles
Spike - 3rd (30.75% success)
Block - 1st (2.38 per set)
Serve - 4th (2.15 per set)
Dig - 7th (9.88 per set)
Set - 3rd (8.88 per set)
Receive - 7th (21.40% efficiency)
DLSU Lady Spikers
Spike - 6th (27.41% success)
Block - 5th (2.04 per set)
Serve - 1st (2.32 per set)
Dig - 2nd (15.40 per set)
Set - 1st (9.80 per set)
Receive - 1st (34.05 efficiency)
In terms of statistics, it's clear that the Lady Spikers have the the upper hand in the service, set and receive departments.
The Lady Eagles meanwhile are lording it over the net, a surprising statistics since they are not known as a great blocking team in previous years.
If DLSU wants to win it...
Their offense seriously needs to click. It doesn't make any sense that Michelle Cobb is currently the best setter if they can't convert it to points.
The ever-reliable Dawn Macandili will always be there to cover the floor, but the others need to do their job once the ball is up in the air.
Their main source of offense will come from Kim Dy, but we all know volleyball is not an individual sport.
Key players: Tin Tiamzon, Des Cheng and Aduke Ogunsanya.
If ADMU wants to win it...
Let's put it bluntly: their floor defense will be their demise.
Since the departure of their "Iron Eagle" Denden Lazaro, the Lady Eagles struggled with their floor defense.
They don't have the luxury of having a Jia Morado who can turn any bad ball to an amazing point.
Now, if they can't do it on the floor, they will need to do it with their first line of defense: blocks.
DLSU is not a strong spiking team, so whoever is in front must be aware and capitilize whenever the Lady Spikers can't convert.
Key players: Maddie Madayag and Bea de Leon.