Ateneo, Creamline hold sway

MANILA, Philippines — The Ateneo Lady Eagles refused to yield en route to their third straight victory and Creamline dealt BanKo-Perlas its first loss to remain unbeaten in the Premier Volleyball League last night at the Filoil Flying V Center.

The Lady Eagles stood unfazed despite a 1-2 set deficit as they rolled to their third straight victory with a 25-18, 19-25, 11-25, 25-17, 15-11 dumping of Tacloban in the first game.

Later in the night, Creamline halted BanKo-Perlas’ five game streak, 26-24, 25-13, 25-21, and notched its fifth straight victory against a lone loss to force a three-way tie at the first spot with its opponent and Ateneo.

“Sabi ko kay Maddie (Madayag), Bea (de Leon), Deanna (Wong), step up, dominate. I guess ’yun ang nag-trigger sa kanila. ‘Kailangan pala kaming mag-dominate. Kung kailangan naming mag-block, ba-block kami.’ I reiterated to them, play the right way, do your roles and help each other do their roles also,” said Ateneo coach Oliver Almadro.

Down two sets and 6-8 in the second set, the Lady Eagles pounced on the Fighting Warays’ miscues in the fourth, then Jules Samonte and Maddie Madayag took over to build the separation.

Ranged against an undefeated team, the Cool Smashers rode on the combined 35-point game of Alyssa Valdez and Jema Galanza to fashion out the quick 71-minute victory.

“On our part, we didn’t expect it to be this fast. Ang mindset namin before pa na kapag BanKo ang kalaban, it will be a long, long game. We made it a point to give our 100 percent first set pa lang, during the second set and the third set,” said Valdez.

Fired up by its fourth set victory, Ateneo secured win No. 5 with five blocks in the fifth courtesy of Bea de Leon, Madayag, Ponggay Gaston and Kat Tolentino.