After a stunning loss on opening weekend, National University vented its ire on Ateneo de Manila University, 25-22, 25-15, 25-17, to enter the winning column of the UAAP Season 86 Men’s Volleyball Tournament at the SM Mall of Asia Arena, Saturday.
This bounce-back victory of the four-peat-seeking Bulldogs created an early logjam in the middle of the standings with the Blue Eagles, Adamson University, and De La Salle University, all at 1-1.
“Sa game namin nagkaroon kami ng kumpyansa sa galaw namin. Malaking bagay yang paghahabol namin nung first set talaga, pagdating ng second and third set doon ko nakita na kumpyansa na ulit maglaro yang players ko kasi yun yun nawala sa amin nung last game namin,” said head coach Dante Alinsunurin after NU rebounded from last Sunday’s straight set defeat to University of Santo Tomas that ended a 34-match win streak.
The Blue Eagles were able to keep in step with the Bulldogs until the middle of the third set, 14-16, before the trio of Jade Disquitado, Leo Aringo, and Nico Almendras took charge to finish the match in 77 minutes.
Almendras delivered 18 points on an efficient 18-of-30 clip in spikes while Disquitado had 17 points on 15 attacks and two blocks to go with 15 excellent receptions.
Aringo chipped in 11 points including four blocks as the Bulldogs dominated the Blue Eagles in the spiking category, 52-18.
Out of the 54 total points of Ateneo, 30 of those came from the errors of NU.
“Sabi ko naman sa players ko okay lang naman magkamali basta nasa timing. Ang importante pagdating sa dulo imamaximize natin yung ginagawa natin,” said Alinsunurin on their large amount of errors.
Ken Batas led the way for the Blue Eagles with nine points while Aimar Okeke and Jian Salarzon were held to just six points apiece.
NU will aim for back-to-back wins on Wednesday when it faces Adamson at 10 am at the SMART Araneta Coliseum to be followed by Ateneo’s face-off with University of the Philippines at 12 p.m.
