Ateneo’s young core grew up during the preseason tournament. —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
MANDAUE CITY, CEBU—Rebuilding Ateneo vows to absorb all the lessons from its bronze medal finish in the 2025 Shakey’s Super League (SSL) National Invitationals Cebu Leg, including its five-set meltdown against Cesafi champion University of San Carlos.
The Blue Eagles, who lost Lyann De Guzman, AC Miner, Yvana Sulit and Sarah Hugo, had a learning experience in the preseason after losing two of their three games in the Visayas leg, getting swept by the Shaina Nitura-led Adamson, 25-15, 26-24, 25-20, Sunday night at Mandaue Sports Complex.
Ateneo coach Sergio Veloso, who only had one win from a four-set conquest against the University of Southern Philippines Foundation, preached patience amid the underwhelming finish, as it was the first preseason exposure for most of their players, with the team still missing recovering players JLo Delos Santos, Zel Tsunashima and Sobe Buena.
Research work
“When you count this, it’s a short time. But it’s good for me because I need to do research about what some players need to do more. But I think of it as a positive. For me now, I don’t think about the first position, second position. I give opportunity to all the players to play,” said Veloso. “We need to decide what is our best lineup. Because we start the season without seven players. Four stayed from the last year, and we lost four. And we need to improve, we need to put young players. And I know it’s so hard.”
“Adamson is a good team. They have an experienced player in Nitura. She’s in the national team, and she controls their players well. We played with strong hitters and strong blockers.”
Ateneo became a trending topic online after blowing a two-set lead and committing 46 errors to drop its second game to home team USC, which took the runner-up spot for upsetting Ateneo.
The Brazilian coach, the former think tank of Alas Pilipinas men’s team, remained laser-sharp focused on his wards’ growth. INQ
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