Fresh from their dismal performance in the first round of the UAAP Table Tennis Championships held at the Ninoy Aquino Stadium, the Ateneo De Manila University Blue and Lady Paddlers entered the second round with nothing to lose. Determined to notch at least a single win, both squads gave it their all, hoping to at least avoid finishing in last place.
Blue Paddlers
With a 0-7 run in the previous round, the Blue Paddlers went in determined to avoid a repeat of last year’s 0-14 elimination run but came out unsuccessful, again leaving without a win.
Having had difficulty since the opening day, the Paddlers completely failed to bounce back in the second round as they suffered crushing defeats from all the other UAAP schools. Starting with an overwhelming 0-3 loss to neighboring University of the Philippines, the Blue Paddlers desperately tried to stop downward spiral to no avail. They were subsequently defeated by the National University, Adamson University, and Far Eastern University, who dealt Ateneo 0-3, 1-3, and 0-3 defeats. Ateneo’s only bright light for the first day came from the duo of John Dayao and Voltaire Lagasca, the only ones able to grab a win.
The second day was no different as the Blue Paddlers were thrashed by incumbent champions, rival De La Sale University, in a 0-3 sweep. Defeats from the University of Santo Tomas and University of the East, both with 1-3 scorelines, ultimately forced them to bow out of the tournament winless. The only positives were the performances of John Lloyd Matias and the Dayao-Lagasca tandem, who denied UST and UE sweeping victories respectively.
Lady Paddlers
With the same 0-7 first round record, the ADMU Lady Paddlers also wanted to avoid a winless last place finish. Luckily for them, fortune turned their way as they grabbed a win at the end.
After suffering defeat after crushing defeat since the opening day, the Lady Paddlers had their big break in second round, though not without cost. They experienced further losses to the DLSU and UST Lady Paddlers, the UP Lady Maroons, and the FEU Lady Tamaraws, who each triumphed against them in a 0-3 sweep. After the UE Lady Warriors and the NU Lady Bulldogs delivered snatched 1-3 wins, the Lady Eagles were able to finish the season with some positivity as they finally bagged a win against their final opponents, the Adamson Lady Falcons.
Led by the efforts of Hellari Calvo, who started the charge, the Lady Paddlers triumphed with a score of 3-1, with the support of Dominque Reyes and the pair of Kathrina Cruz and Lexine Uy.
With the eliminations over, the ADMU Blue and Lady Paddlers faced identical season finishes to last year. Standing with a dismal win-loss ratio of 0-14, the Blue Paddlers fell to eighth place, and a single win was not enough to prevent the same for the Lady Paddlers.
