A day after their previous ties, both Ateneo and UST shuttlers took to the court determined to take the win for their respective schools at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall. Previously coming from results that could be seen polar opposites, ADMU stood victorious against FEU, while UST fell against their UP counterparts. Last Sunday, both teams were adamant to bare their claws on the court. Sadly for UST, the ADMU Shuttlers proved to be the better team as they pulled through after a 3-2 victory.
The day started off in UST’s favor, with Paul John Pantig who won the first match in a climactic three-set singles match. Facing Ateneo’s Carlo Remo, UST’s Pantig moved in haste to take the the first set 14-21 after creating an early lead. ADMU’s Remo later retaliated in the second set where he managed to maintain a slim lead from the start to win 23-21. Despite his fall in the second set, Pantig outwit his opponent with comeback in the third set and finished with a 12-21 score.
Countering UST’s win, ADMU team captain Clarence Filart struck back against UST’s Alcaed Sabanal, and came out victorious in a double-set match that could be described as one of the day’s longest. Starting out on equal footing, both Filart and Sabanal fought to their very best in the first set that resulted in an extremely close battle. In the end, Filart would prove to deny Alcaed a victory despite his successful attempt to eat up the latter’s lead to finish 22-21, for ADMU. Realizing his opponent’s uncanny ability to mount a successful counterattack, Filart went all out in the second set as he carved out a large lead, grabbing the set 21-16 and gain ADMU’s first victory.
Capitalizing on Filart’s victory, the duo of Hanz Bernardo and Fides Bagasbas would also prove victorious as they rout their opposition, UST’s John Paul Pantig and John Edgar Reyes in a three-set match. Winning the first set was the ADMU duo who were quick to overwhelm their opponents 21-13. The duo of Pantig and Reyes would, however, reclaim the momentum in the second set as they turned the side to overpower the ADMU duo, 15-21. Realizing the importance of the final deciding set, both the duos posted intense rallies as they kept the scores close. However, the final victory fell into the hands of Bernardo and Bagasbas as they proved to be the victors in a 21-19 match.
With only one victory away from ADMU winning the tie, the UST duo of John Mark Sotea and Kristian Paolo Barrios mounted a successful attempt in stopping the Ateneo drive as they routed the Blue Shuttlers Patrick Gecosala and Jan Mangubat in a two set victory 15-21 and 19-21 respectively.
Taking on the deciding match was ADMU’s Hanz Bernardo and UST’s Hendrick Peralta. Despite Peralta’s best efforts, ADMU’s Bernardo easily dispatched him 21-12 and 21-14 respectively.
Ateneo, who now sits at the third spot would look to notch another victory against Adamson this coming Saturday while fifth place UST will look to improving its standings and make a comeback against La Salle on the same day.
