Fresh from their 3-2 victory against FEU, the shuttlers hailing from Katipunan proved that their win last Wednesday was beyond sheer luck as they dispatched their UE counterparts with ease. Delivering massive firepower as well as agile footwork, the ADMU Lady Shuttlers were close to delivering a message of dominance when they nearly demolished their opponents in a 4-1 victory, at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.
Starting the demonstration of just how powerful the once champion team was Cassie Lim who was quick to assert her dominance against UE’s Heide Rosal during their 23-minute battle. Successfully displaying graceful footwork as well as powerful smashes, Lim was able to swiftly end the first set after enjoying a massive lead 21-10. Her reign of dominance would continue on to be felt in the second set as a clearly calm Lim was unable to display a similar performance, but also take advantage of an absolute crumble in the defense set up by Rosal to finish the second set in what could only be described as the perfect prelude for the following singles match as it ended 21-5 to give the ADMU Lady Shuttlers’ their first crushing victory.
ADMU’s reign of power will continue in the hands of Bianca Carlos, going to battle with all guns blazing against UE’s Eryca Labay, who proved to be too little of a challenge. Seemingly inspired by Lim’s clear domination of Rosal, Carlos would also deliver her own style of beatdown as she not only overwhelms Labay, but goes as far as obliterating Labay’s will to fight to finish the match in the day’s largest display of strength with a double 21-5 victory, bagging ADMU’s second match victory after a swift 19-minute battle.
While clearly dominating in the first and second singles the ADMU Shuttlers were clearly seen to be experiencing hardships in the first doubles match up as the duo of Geva De Vera and Janel Dihiansan were clearly seen to be having issues against UE’s Heide and Lyra Rosal. Despite showing a great performance in the first set after a 21-12 victory, the duo of De Vera and Dihiansan would prove to be unable to secure a swift victory after being unable to catch up to an early lead by the Rosal duo in the second set that ended 19-21 to give UE its first set victory. The de Vera and Dihiansan duo would, however, be able to mount a successful counterattack in the third set, much to to the annoyance of the Rosal Sisters, to deny their UE counterparts a much needed win 21-15 to take the tie for ADMU.
Despite a slight hiccup in the performance of the past duo, ADMU’s second duo consisting of Bianca Carlos and a recovered Trixie Malibiran would return to provide another one-sided match against their UE counterparts, Erycka Labay and Pamela Fernando. Starting off strong, the duo of Carlos and Malibiran were quick to take the offensive as multiple shots from the hands of Carlos would ultimately proved to be too much for UE’s Labay and Fernando to bear to surrender the first set 21-10. The second set would also be won by Ateneo, but this time through the hands of Malibiran who proved that she is now able to once again play at peak performance as she drove hard to win the second set 21-8 to bag ADMU’s 4th and final win for the day.
The final singles would be UE’s only shining moment for the day as Lyra Rosal would proved to be the lone victor after routing ADMU’s Nicole Nieto who despite playing wholeheartedly would prove unsuccessful in gaining a sweep for ADMU. Rosal would be able to successfully bounce back from a first set defeat against Nieto, 21-15, to win the match after winning the two subsequent sets 11-21 and 15-21 respectively.
The ADMU Lady Shuttlers would attempt to extend their their streak by going against the NU Lady Bulldogs, while UE would be hoping for a comeback against the UP Fighting Maroons.
