The Blue Eagles of the tennis lawn exit the first round of the UAAP Season 78 Lawn Tennis Tournament on a high note, after the netters from Ateneo took home three of five matches against the University of Santo Tomas Growling Tigers, Saturday morning at the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex.
Ateneo’s Ino Canlas opened the day with a quick beatdown of UST counterpart Francis Lanzado in two sets, 6-1, 6-2. Marcen Gonzales kept the Eagles’ hot start going in the second singles encounter. Despite dropping the first set to UST’s Mart Clarence Cabahug 3-6, he found himself in control of the flow in the second set, nailing six straight points to force the tiebreaker. Gonzales managed to keep momentum, leading to a victory in the third set, 6-3.
Johann Gonzales and Luke Flores gave the Blue side a reason for early celebration. The Ateneo netters closed out their matchup with Tigers Francis Patino and Francis Potutan in two sets, 6-4, 6-2. The second doubles matchup of the day however was an entirely different story, with Tigers Joel Cabusas and Bernlu Bering splitting 13 games with AJ Rivero and Ernesto Gatdula of the Ateneo side, en route to a 7-6 victory in the first set. They went on to nail the second set, 6-1.
Dave Mosqueda closed out the Tigers’ day on the lawn with a win, making quick work of Ateneo’s Iyo Canlas, 6-1 in the opening set and 6-0 in the second.
With the victory over last year’s runners-up, Ateneo sit at 4-1 as the first round draws to a close, second in the standings to defending champions National University, who are undefeated in five matchups. UST meanwhile end their first round at a dismal 1-4.
