By: Justine Anne Gaerlan
Adamson University wrapped up the first round of the UAAP Season 87 High School Boys’ Volleyball Tournament with a commanding straight-set win over De La Salle Zobel, 25-16, 25-17, 25-17, on Sunday at Paco Arena in Manila.
Jims Ducusin once again led the Baby Falcons with an impressive 16 points, tallying 13 attacks and two blocks in the 62-minute match.
Brice Malinao and Neil Tobias, who contributed in the first two sets, added nine and seven points, respectively. James Javinal ran the offense smoothly, recording 13 excellent sets.
With this win, Adamson improved to 4-3, moving ahead of Far Eastern University-Diliman (3-4) in the race for the last Final Four spot.
University of Santo Tomas (7-0) swept the first round to claim the top spot, followed by defending champions National University-Nazareth School (6-1) and University of the East (5-2).
The third set started with both teams trading points until Adamson found their groove, unleashing an eight-point run that put them ahead 18-11. De La Salle Zobel struggled to recover, and a decisive attack from Jaspher Oligo brought Adamson to match point.
Arvin Pon-an then sealed the win with a powerful kill, clinching the final set, 25-17.
“‘Yung mga error lang talaga ‘yung inaano namin kasi’ yun naman talaga ang problema ng team lalo na pagdating sa service [and] receive. ‘Pag lumalamang, nakakampante tapos mahahabol, so kailangan ‘yun ang trabahuhin namin bago pumasok sa second round,” said Adamson head coach Marvin Ramoso.
He referred to Pon-an, who had been recovering from a broken nose, Dhanver Custodio, who had an ankle injury, and Kirk Partosa, who recently recovered from dengue.
“Ngayon lang kami nabuo kung kailan last game na namin. So papasok ng second round, sabi ko nga, kailangan mas solid kami ngayon kasi buo na ‘yung team,” added Ramoso.
De La Salle Zobel’s Mario Roxas led the Junior Green Spikers with 12 points, all coming from attacks. The Junior Green Spikers fell to 2-5, remaining in sixth place.
Meanwhile, Ateneo de Manila University ended the first round on a high note, securing their first win with a four-set victory over University of the Philippines Integrated School, 25-18, 25-20, 26-28, 25-17.
This marked Ateneo’s first victory since their triumph over De La Salle Zobel back in Season 85.
“Very happy for the team because they worked hard for this. Most of them, like Ranidel De Ocampo, a lot of them are like, first time to play, first time to play a volleyball game,” said Ateneo head coach Babes Castillo.
“Ang daming first [time players]. So daming struggles. They tested their character, did it in pressure games, but of course we don’t like it, but we know that we need it so I’m glad that they went through it and overcame those situations because that’s the main thing they have to learn to recover from tight situations,” he added.
Ethan Rivera and Ken Nicolas led the Blue Eagles’ offense with 15 points each. Rivera recorded 10 attacks and four aces, while Nicolas contributed 14 kills and 10 digs.
Deydi De Ocampo added 11 markers.
UPIS’s James Gamon finished with 11 points in the loss.
Ateneo improved to 1-6, climbing to seventh place, while UPIS remained winless at 0-7, sitting at the bottom of the standings.
