The University of the Philippines only needed a little more than an hour to seal their second straight win in the UAAP Season 80 men’s badminton tournament.
Playing relaxed yet focused, last year’s third-placers zoomed to a dominant sweep of the Adamson University Soaring Falcons, 5-0, Saturday morning at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.
Team captain CK Clemente admitted that, “Steady lang yung team ngayon. We need to conserve energy kasi mabigat yung kalaban bukas.”
That no-pressure attitude was productive to say the least as JM Bernardo continued his unscathed singles record, disposing Johnrick Macabenta, 21-13, 21-14. Even co-skipper Vinci Manuel got his rhythm going, taking care of the dangerous Kevin Fabros with a scoreline of 21-18, 21-12.
Manuel’s good showing was a welcome development for the team, Clemente shared. “Important every game kasi ‘di lang naman sa panalo ng team nag babase yung tournament pati sa points.
“So para sa’kin we need to earn every game, every point,” he asserted.
Roberto Pineda and Paul Gonzales then pocketed the win for the men from Diliman, dragging down Macabenta and Joshua Antonio at 21-10, 21-17.
The UP captain and Bernardo made it four-of-four, winning over Fabros and Elben Concha at 21-10, 21-18. Afterwards, Garreth Dizer made his UAAP debut count, sweeping Concha, 21-17, 21-19.
The opposition Clemente was referring to is the fellow 3-1 Ateneo de Manila University Blue Eagles. On their part, the Falcons (0-5) will try to end their season with a win when they face the University of Santo Tomas Golden Shuttlers (0-4). Both ties will happen on Sunday, October 1 at 8am.
