After losing in straight sets against NU in their Season 77 opener, the Adamson Falcons bounced back for their first victory against last year’s bridesmaid finishers the Ateneo Blue Eagles in four sets, 20-21, 27-25, 25-20, 25-15 at the San Juan Arena.
The usual duo of Marck Espejo and Rex Intal led the opening charge for the Blue Spikers. The Katipunan-based squad led by as much as eight en route to an early first set close.
Down 18-23 in the second set, the Eagles rallied with a 6-1 run to tie the set at 24, but Adamson took the last two points as Espejo was denied by two Falcons at the net.
The Falcon defense stood tall during the fourth set as they held Ateneo to 15 points in a fast closing set. Equipped with momentum, a confident Adamson squad showed up and buried the rattled Ateneo team with successive attacks to close out the game.
Adamson captain Michael Sudaria led the Falcons with 19 points, 16 of which came from spikes. In addition, rookie Jerome Sarmiento and Dave Pletado added 11 and 10 points respectively. Espejo led all scorers with 20 in a losing effort for the Blue Eagles.
Despite the loss, Ateneo had more attacks compared to Adamson, 50-42 and had a block more, 13-12. However, Adamson led in service aces, 5-0 and committed less errors, 22-38.
The Falcons will face the UP Fighting Maroons on Sunday at the San Juan Arena while Ateneo’s next assignment will be against UST at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
The scores:
Adamson- Sudaria 19, Sarmiento 11, Pletado 10, David 8, Ramirez 5, Saraza 4, Pablico 2, Mallapre 0, Yude 0, Alvarez 0, Paler 0, Jimenez 0, Limpag 0, Melgar(L) 0
Ateneo- Espejo 20, Villanueva 13, Marasigan 11, Intal 11, Rivera 6, Polvorosa 2, Santos 0, Baysa 0, Senoren 0, Tan 0, Bello 0, Santos 0, Posadas 0, Rivera(L) 0
