As the competition comes to a close, the University of the Philippines Lady Maroons are still winless. They dropped another game against the Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles by winning only one out of the five matches, Saturday at the Rizal Memorial Tennis Center.
CJ Valdez of UP started the revenge campaign with lousy game play, as she was unable to give enough in the first set against Jana Pages, 4-6. It continued in the second set, allowing Pages to build her confidence and knock down the Iska with a score of 2-6.
In the second singles, Lady Maroon Joana Peña had a great start, taking the first four points of the opening set. However, she took a wrong turn and Sampaton of Ateneo took advantage, slowly notching points until she tied with Peña. Although Peña tried to take momentum back, she still had a hard time piercing Sampaton’s defense strategy, and the set ended 6-7(5). Peña obviously lost her strength in the second set and gave away the win to Sampaton, 1-6.
The Borella-Banezz duo also tasted defeat against the Ateneo partners, Janna Exconde and Alexis Mclean 1-6, 4-6. In the first round, UP were the winners of the first singles match against the Atenean duo, but there was some miscommunication between Borella and Banezz, leaving them with defeat.
It was also a rough road for the second doubles match of the Fighting Maroons, as the Santos-Uy tandem ran themselves ragged for the shots of Ateneo’s composed Olivarez and Hernandez, 1-6, 2-6. They were unable to hit much during the first set, and continued on until the second set.
Despite the loss of all her teammates, Monica Cortez of UP still fought hard in an action-packed game against Ateneo’s Rocio Climent, 6-0, 2-6, 6-1. Cortez dominated the first set without even letting Climent score, which wore her out in the second set and gave Climent the move to take control. However, Cortez still managed to come back strong in the third set, rebuffing every opportunity of Climent to score and tasting victory in the end.
On Wednesday, Ateneo will go against the defending champions, the National University Bulldogs at 8am, while the Iskas will battle out with the De La Salle University Lady Tennisters at 12 noon.
