Lady Eagles eye No. 9 vs AdU side

MANILA, Philippines - Defending champion Ateneo seeks to close in on a sixth straight semifinals appearance today when the Lady Eagles take on skidding Adamson in the UAAP Season 77 women’s volleyball tournament at the Mall of Asia Arena.Gametime is at 4 p.m. with the Lady Eagles gunning for their ninth consecutive victory against a Lady Falcons side (3-5) out to snap a three-game slide.

In the 2 p.m. opener, University of Santo Tomas (3-5) tries to stretch its winning streak to three as it clashes with a National University squad (4-4) reeling from a straight-set loss to Ateneo last Sunday.

Reigning MVP Alyssa Valdez maintained that despite AdU’s situation, the Lady Eagles expect the Lady Falcons to play like there’s no tomorrow as they’ve been doing the past encounters.

“Adamson, for sure, laging binibigyan ng magandang fight ang kalaban (Adamson always puts up a good fight),” said Valdez. As usual, si coach Tai (Bundit), may plan siya na (Coach Bundit always devises a game plan and) I hope it would work (against AdU).”

Despite an error-filled game, the Lady Eagles picked up their eighth straight victory last Sunday, frustrating their former coach Roger Gorayeb and his new team National U, 25-18, 25-21, 25-22.

“Sana maayos namin ang mga mistakes namin from the NU para pagdating namin sa game on Wednesday (today), 100 percent kami (We hope to fix the mistakes we had in the game against NU as we play Adamson),” said Valdez.

The Lady Eagles look to continue their semis tradition. In the last eight years, Ateneo missed the Final Four only once, in the 2008-09 season under Gorayeb’s first year.

The Lady Falcons, who are tied with the Tigresses in sixth spot at 3-5, have not yet tasted victory in 2015, putting their Final Four aspirations in peril.

They were out of sync in a 19-25, 16-25, 25-23, 15-25 loss to UST last Saturday.

“Sana maka-adjust pa, hindi pa naman siguro huli ang lahat.

Kasi may tiwala pa naman ako sa team ko na kaya pa namang manalo (Hopefully we can make adjustments, there’s still a chance to recover and I have faith in my team,” said AdU coach Sherwin Meneses, who admitted his crew lacked a leader.

Mylene Paat and Amanda Villanueva have been the only consistent performers lately, as Jessica Galanza, who starred in the San Marcelino-based spikers’ 3-2 start, had a dip on her recent performances.

Meanwhile, the Tigresses seemed to have fully gotten out of their

five-game slump, with seniors ledby Carmela Tunay and Ria Meneses stepping up to complement skipperPam Lastimosa and rookie EJ Laure.

“Yun ang goal namin, pagandahin ang standing sa second round (Our goal is to boost our standings) from a 2-5 card; we hope we can get five wins or more,” said UST coach Odjie Mamon.

Jaja Santiago, Myla Pablo, Rizza Mandapat and rookie Jorelle

Singh will be the vital cogs for the Lady Bulldogs in their bid to get back on track.