The Adamson Falcons cruised to a fast 25-16, 25-15, 25-20 thrashing over the cellar-dwelling UE Red Warriors club to improve their chances of a top-two finish in the Men’s Volleyball tournament held at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.
From the get-go, the Warriors established a huge lead early to give them a comfortable pace throughout the opening set. Balanced offense gave them more options in scoring as they left the UE defense puzzled in terms of guarding the Falcons’ spikers. The early lead was held tightly by the Falcons, earning them a nine-point victory at the end of the first set.
In the second set, the Warriors were on par in terms of the spikes as scoring off hits from both schools were close. However, Adamson built an early four-point gap due to the errors of the Warriors. Edward Camposano’s cross court spike at the middle of the set went way out that helped the Falcons established a 20-14 lead. Three more errors for the Red Warriors made the lead swell that aided the Falcons finish off the set with a 5-1 run capped by a Michael Sudaria off the block score.
Despite dropping the first point of the next set due to a reception error, the Falcons quickly countered with a 8-3 blast capped by a service ace by John Yude. With Yude providing good outing from the service area, Adamson once again built a lead with their floor defense going in full display. Camposano, however, broke the Warriors’ drought with a powerful backrow hit to stop the bleeding for UE. With the spikes of the Falcons going wide due to an improved net defense of UE, the Warriors clawed back to trim the lead down to four.
Despite their lead evaporating to two, short drop balls did not help UE in their possible comeback from the set. Service aces late in the third frame also extended Adamson’s lead as UE’s reception became a liability late. A 7-1 run at the dying moments of the third canto helped seal the deal en route to the Falcons ninth victory of the season.
In a one-sided affair, Adamson dominated all the scoring departments. They had ten more points in terms of spikes, 33-23 and rejected more attempts, 10-6. They also had three more points in service aces, 4-1 and the Falcons committed less errors, 21-28.
The starters once again delivered a solid outing for Adamson led by captain Michael Sudaria’s 13-point effort including two blocks. On the other hand, Camposano led the winless UE team with 12 markers.
The victory gives Adamson a 9-3 record, just half-game behind the league leaders Ateneo. While the University of the East continues to struggle this season with still no wins in twelve outings.
UE’s next counterpart will be the National University Bulldogs while Adamson looks to improve their impressive UAAP record against the University of the Philippines. Both games will be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday morning, Feb. 15.
The scores
AdU – Sudaria 13, Pletado 9, Sarmiento 9, Yude 9, David 3, Ramirez 2, Pablico 2, Mallapre 0, Melgar(L) 0
UE – Camposano 12, Aljas 5, Lelic 2, Mandani 2, Alba 2, Molina 2, Saguin 1, Magdaong 1, Gopio 1, Adviento 1, Caluya 1, Pron 0, Almario(L) 0
