Court 4
In the most entertaining match of the day, the University of the Philippines Lady Shuttlers hold on to their immaculate record as they beat upset-hungry the University of Santo Tomas Golden Shuttlers. All 120 combined fans from the stands from the UP and UST side jeered at each other, simultaneously chanting Unibersidad ng Pilipinas for UP and Unibersidad sa may España for UST. With the crowd at its peak and the match score tied at 2-all, it was Jessie Francisco who silenced the UST crowd with a sound beating of rookie and crowd-darling Airish Macalino to give UP an unblemished win-loss record.
Women’s Singles Match 1: Ana Patricia Barredo (UST) def. Mary Ann Marañon; 2:0
UP 0 – 1 UST
The long-armed Ana Patricia Barredo continued her dominance in this year’s UAAP badminton tournament with a grind-out win over UP designated opener, Mary Ann Marañon. In a tight first game, the game would be tied a total of 11 times with the last tie being at 16-all. Barredo would use her incredible reach to her advantage to make a 7 to 1 rally to win the first set 21-17. The 2nd game saw Barredo maintain a steady lead over Marañon with the Lady Maroon unable to take advantage of return errors from Barredo. Barredo would win the set 21-16
Aggregate Score: Barredo 42 – Marañon 33
Total Match Time: 35 mins
Women’s Singles Match 2: Paola Breatriz Bernardo (UP) def. Steffie Denise Aquino (UST); 2:0
UP 1 – 1 UST
Paola Bernardo would tie things up for the shuttlers of Diliman in a 20-minute clinic against Steffie Aquino. The first game between the two would be a tight affair until midway of the game. With Aquino leading the game 15-14, Bernardo would 7 straight points with excellent returns and a couple of nets by Aquino to win the 1st game 21-15. The 2nd set would see Bernardo break away from Aquino from the get-go. Bernardo would lead 11-6 prior to the 11th point break. After the break, Paola Bernardo would continue her momentum by only giving up 5 points to win 21-11.
Aggregate Score: Bernardo 42 – Aquino 26
Total Match Time: 20 mins
Women’s Doubles Match 1: Jessie Francisco and Maria Elisha Ongcuangco (UP) def. Maria Kristine Gaspar and Elainne Vinluan (UST); 2:0
UP 2 – 1 UST
Maria Kristine Gaspar and Elainne Vinluan were clearly not in their game this day. In the two games of this match-up, Gaspar and Vinluan performed various errors including hitting each others raquets multiple times during a return and even falling on each other. The pairing of Francisco and Ongcuangco would take advantage of this, routing the UST tandem with scores of 21-14 and 21-10 in a game-sweep.
Aggregate Score: Francisco (16) and Ongcuangco (26) 42 – Gaspar (13) and Vinluan (11) 24
Total Match Time: 30 mins
Women’s Doubles Match 2: Steffie Aquino and Ana Patricia Barredo (UST) def. Marina Caculitan and Mary Ann Maranon (UP); 2:0
UP 2 – 2 UST (TIE)
Ana Patricia Barredo and Steffie Aquino would not allow her team to fall to the tournament-leading UP shuttlers without a good fight. With their pair down 11-7 during the 11th point break of the first set, Coach Cajefe would remind her girls to keep calm and go loose. That’s what exactly Patricia Barredo did. She would lead her team with amazing returns, limiting the UP tandem to just 6 points, to win the first game 21-17. The 2nd game was a nerve-wrecking affair for the UST crowd. The ladies from Espana would lead early on with an 8-2 score before Marina Caculitan would play like a daredevil, scorching UST with excellent returns, to give UP the lead 12-10. The UP lead would extend to 18 to 14 and then 20-17. With UP at match point, Steffie Aquino would take over the game. She would score the last 5 points to give UST the match win to tie things up at 2.
Aggregate Score: Caculitan (30) Maranon (7) 37 – Aquino (32) Barredo (11) 43
Total Match Time: 46 mins
Women’s Singles Match 3: Jessie Francisco (UP) def. Airish Macalino (UST); 2:0
UP 3 – 2 UST (UP wins)
During the warm-ups, dueling chants from both sides broke-out. Lets go Jessie! MA-CA-LI-NO! It was Jessie Francisco, a ranked doubles player in the U19 division, pitted against UST designated closer Airish Macalino, a rookie. On this day though, it was Jessie Francisco who took Airish Macalino to school in a game-sweep and silencing the raucous UST crowd. Macalino, who the UST crowd loves for her veteran-like composure and confidence, had no answer for the sharp returns of Francisco. Jessie Francisco would take both sets, never giving up the lead in both, with scores of 21-16 and 21-7.
Aggregate Score: Francisco 42 – Macalino 23
Total Match Time: 30 mins
Total Games Won: UP 6 – 4 UST
