The De La Salle University men’s table tennis team eliminated the National University to setup a duel with UST in the UAAP Season 78 Men’s Table Tennis finals.
The DLSU Green Archers have a twice-to-beat advantage against NU courtesy of finishing first at the end of the elimination round with a record of 13-1. On the other hand, NU finished fourth at 7-7.
The Green Archers ended the series with in a thrilling 3-2 victory.
NU’s John Robert Mishal won the first match for NU at the expense of DLSU’s Jethro Yatco. It was a four-set bout, with Misal taking the first set, 12-10. Yatco then came back with an 11-7 win of his own, then Misal immediately won the next set by the same score. Misal kept his composure to win 11-9 and the match itself 3-1.
A five-set match was up next, between Walden Ledesma (DLSU) and Carl Carrasco (NU). Ledesma won the first set 11-9, after which Carrasco breezed through the second set 11-2. Ledesma recovered to win the third set 11-5. Undeterred, Carrasco won the fourth set 11-5. With the match hanging in the balance, Ledesma showed championship poise to win the fifth set 11-5 and the match 3-2 overall.
Tarak Cabrido and Edmund Garganian Jr. represented DLSU for the doubles match, while NU fielded Jake Ramirez and Jay Villamor. It was an easy win for the Green Archers, who took it 3-0 with set scores of 11-3, 11-8 and 11-6.
As in their first singles match win, Mark Huab (NU) defeated John Mateo (DLSU) to prolong the tie for the Bulldogs. Huab won the first and third sets narrowly with scores of 12-10 but Mateo snatched the second set at 11-7. Huab then finished the match in the fourth set at 11-9 to win the match 3-1.
It was down to the fifth singles and last match of the tie. Francis Garganian won the tie emphatically for DLSU and led them back to the finals with a 3-0 sweep of NU’s Eduardo Manuel Jr., 11-3, 11-4, and 11-3.
DLSU will face UST in a best of three series tomorrow October 29, 2015 at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium to determine who wins the championship. It will be an exciting finals series since both schools have beaten one another in the elimination round this Season 78.
