MANILA, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University recovered from a second-set setback against University of the East en route to a 25-16, 22-25, 25-15, 25-14 opening day win in the UAAP Season 86 men's volleyball tournament, Saturday at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
After taking the first set with ease, the Blue Eagles crumbled late in their close second set encounter as the Red Warriors leaned on Joshua Pozas, John Paul Mangahis, and Angelo Reyes to even the scores at 1-all.
The Blue Eagles licked their wounds immediately and delivered dominant performances in the next two frames to complete their winning debut after an hour and 42 minutes of action.
"Well, first we're very excited since we're playing first, and also at the same time, we're a bit scared because we might have first-game jitters," said Ateneo head coach Timmy Sto. Tomas.
"Hopefully, we can get more prepared in our next few games so that we won't be able to feel any more jitters," he added.
Coming from a tight loss in the second frame, the Blue Eagles bounced back in the third set and turned a 19-14 lead into a 25-15 win courtesy of a 6-1 finishing kick from Aimar Okeke, Ken Batas, and Cyrus De Guzman.
It was the same story in the fourth set as Ateneo led by as much as nine points, 17-8, after a four-to-nothing spurt led by Batas and Okeke. The Red Warriors could not recover from there as the Blue Eagles extended the lead to double digits late in the set.
Batas spearheaded Ateneo with 22 points on 19 attacks, two blocks, and one ace while Matthew Salarzon delivered 15 points on 12 attacks, two blocks, and one ace to go along with 11 excellent receptions.
De Guzman added 11 points while Nigerian rookie Okeke had 11 points as well, laced with five excellent digs.
Ateneo will face off against defending champion National University next Saturday, 12:00 p.m. at the same venue.
On the other hand, Pozaz was the only double-digit scorer for UE with 13 points while team captain Mangahis and Reyes tallied eight markers each in the loss.
UE will try to bounce back against University of Sto. Tomas on Wednesday, 2:00 p.m. at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
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