Depending women’s volleyball champion Ateneo de Manila University Lady Eagles defeated the former champion De La Salle University Lady Spikers and made historic sweep in the UAAP with a 14-0 elimination round records. The Ateneo vs. La Salle volleyball match ended with the final score at 25-20, 21-25, 25-23, and 27-25 win on Wednesday in front of more than 13,300 fans at the Mall of Asia Arena.
Ateneo rookie middle hitter Bea De Leon returned after injury and Jhoana Maraguinot came through with clutch skills to help Ateneo in qualifying for the first finals berth and enjoy a thrice-to-beat advantage.
According to reigning UAAP Volleyball MVP Alyssa Valdez, right now all they say is that the Stage 2 have successfully ended for the Lady Eagles, as Valdez scored with 29 points on 24 attacks, two blocks and an ace.
With Ateneo’s victory, they swept the elimination round of the UAAP Women’s volleyball tournament for the first time in team history and earned an outright berth to the finals, the team’s fourth consecutive appearance, this time around they will have a thrice-to-beat advantage.
The La Salle Lady Spikers on their part wrapped up the elimination round with a 12-2 record, and they will wait for an opponent in the step-ladder semi-finals as five teams, National University, University of the Philippines, Adamson University, University of Sto. Tomas and Far Eastern University gut it out in the first phases.
During the La Salle vs. Ateneo game, Ara Galang finished with 20 points for La Salle, but no other player scored in a double-digits for the Lady Spikers, while Mika Reyes finished with eight points.