De La Salle-Zobel set its title defense in both the Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions in motion in the UAAP Season 85 Table Tennis tournament, Sunday at the Makati Coliseum.
“Actually lahat ng teams medyo off, mapapansin mo ‘yon. Hindi katulad ng 100 prercent na galing sa mahabang trainings ng face-to-face,” Coach Adolfo Glorioso Jr. shared. “Pero habang tumatagal yung mga araw, nagkakaroon na ng harmony yung mga bata.”
The Junior Green Paddlers swept their opening-day assignments to go 3-0 for the early lead. The defending champions needed just three matches in all its day’s ties to win against University of the Philippines Integrated School, Ateneo High School, and Adamson University.
Carlos Docto and Gabriel Ravanzo completed the rousing day for Zobel with an 11-5, 11-6, 11-13, 5-11, 11-6 marathon past Adamson’s Nichol Lozano and Benedict Rabaya in the doubles match.
On the other hand, the Junior Lady Green Paddlers fashioned out a similar 3-0 sweep in the day without dropping a single match to go into the pole after Day 1 with victories against Ateneo, UPIS, and University of the East.
Juliliana Yamson and Kimberly Amandy needed four sets to dispatch UE’s Resala Balamal and Paula Dela Cruz, 11-13, 11-3, 11-7, 11-6, to round up the day sweep for Zobel.
University of Santo Tomas bagged two wins in the day for a 2-0 record in the boys’ division, while UE is half a tie behind at 2-1. Adamson was the other school that pocketed a win on opening day.
On the girls’ side, UST is also at 2-0, while Adamson and UE followed with 2-1 and 1-2 win-loss records, respectively.
The first round of eliminations in the high school divisions will conclude on Monday.
