Falcons tighten grip of twice-to-beat spot, hand Warriors 12th straight defeat

The Adamson Falcons cruised to a fast 25-16, 25-15, 25-20 thrashing over the cel
lar-dealing UE Red Warriors club to improve their chances of a top-two finish in
the Men's Volleyball tournament held at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday.
From the get go, the Warriors established a huge lead early to give them a comfo
rtable pace throughout the opening set. Balanced offense gave them more options
in scoring as they left the UE defense puzzled in terms of guarding the Falcons'
spikers. The early lead game was held tightly by the Falcons and gave them a ni
ne-point cushion at the end of the first set.
In the second set, the Warriors were on par in terms of the spikes as scoring of
f hits from both schools were close. However, Adamson built an early four point
gap due to the errors of the Warriors. Edward Camposano's cross court spike at t
he middle of the set went way out that helped the Falcons established a 20-14 le
ad. Three more errors for the Red Warriors made the lead swell that aided the Fa
lcons finish off the set with a 5-1 run capped by a Michael Sudaria off the bloc
k score.
After being down by 0-1 due to a reception error, the Falcons quickly countered
with a 8-3 blast capped by a service ace by John Yude. With Yude providing good
outing from the service area, Adamson once again built a lead with their floor d
efense going in full display. Camposano, however, breaks the Warriors' drought w
ith a powerful backrow hit to stop the bleeding for UE. With the spikes of the F
alcons going wide due to an improved net defense of UE, the Warriors clawed back
to trim the lead down to four.
Despite their lead evaporating down to two, short drop balls did not help UE in
their possible comeback from the set. Service aces late in the third frame also
extended Adamson's lead as UE's reception became a liability late. A 7-1 run at
the dying moments of the third canto helped seal the deal en route to the Falcon
s ninth victory of the season.
In a one-sided affair, Adamson dominated all the scoring departments. They had t
en more points in terms of spikes, 33-23 and rejected more attempts, 10-6. They
also had three more points in service aces, 4-1 and the Falcons committed less e
rrors, 21-28.
The starters once again delivered a solid outing for Adamson led by captain Mich
ael Sudaria's 13-point effort including two blocks. On the other hand, Camposano
led the winless UE team with 12 markers.
The victory gives Adamson a 9-3 record, just half-game behind the league leaders
Ateneo. On the other hand, University of the East continues their struggling se
ason with still no wins in twelve outings.
UE's next counterpart will be the National University Bulldogs while Adamson loo
ks to improve their impressive UAAP record against the University of the Philipp
ines. Both games will be held at the Smart Araneta Coliseum on Sunday morning, F
eb. 15.
The scores
AdU - Sudaria 13, Pletado 9, Sarmiento 9, Yude 9, David 3, Ramirez 2, Pablico 2,
Mallapre 0, Melgar(L) 0
UE - Camposano 12, Aljas 5, Lelic 2, Mandani 2, Alba 2, Molina 2, Saguin 1, Magd
aong 1, Gopio 1, Adviento 1, Caluya 1, Pron 0, Almario(L) 0
ADMU 9-2

AdU 8-3
UST 8-3
NU 7-4
FEU 5-6
UP 4-7
DLSU 3-8
UE 0-11