THE USUAL suspects have done it again.
Bolstered by practically an intact line-up, the UST Male Tennisters turned their back-to-back title aspirations into reality, annexing the UAAP Lawn Tennis crown thanks to a commanding sweep of the competition.
The Male Tennisters completed their second straight UAAP sweep after narrowly escaping a hard-charging De La Salle University squad, 3-2, last February 17 at the Rizal Racket Club in Pasig City.
Season 70 Rookie of the Year Raymond Villarete hammered home UST’s emphatic title repeat with a commanding 6-3, 6-3 win over John Baldonado in the fifth and final match.
“Before our title win, the players, the coaches and the trainers knew their roles going into this tournament,” coach Karl Sta. Maria told the Varsitarian.
“Everyone played their part, everyone stepped up when they had to. We are the main target of everyone in this competition, being defending champions. We should not let our guard down.”
Down 2-1 going into the second doubles match, the hard-hitting tandem of Season 69 co-Rookie of the Year Ryan Repunte and Keane Barraquias limped against the heady plays of La Salle’s Jandrick De Castro and Pereme Alina to relinquish a 6-4, 7-5 loss.
Offsetting the 5-7, 6-4, 3-6 loss of Season 70 MVP Maclean Barraquias against La Salles’s Irwin De Guzman in the first singles match, Season 69 MVP Wilbur Orillano teamed up with Alexander Diego to post a 6-3, 6-4 whipping of Juan Carlo Pantua and Lawrence Magaway in the first doubles pairing.
In the second singles encounter, Season 69 co-Rookie of the Year James Cañete found Michael Basco a tough customer, yielding a 2-6, 3-6 decision to give La Salle a 1-0 team advantage.
“This championship is a testament to all the hard work and sacrifices put in by every member of the team. The title was won with a total team effort.”
With Orillano and Repunte leading the charge, UST pummeled the University of the Philippines, 5-0, last February 5.
The marquee duo of Repunte and Keane Barraquias epitomized UST’s lopsided 6-4, 6-4 romp of UP counterparts Marco Palanca and Earl Soldivillo in the second doubles match en route to an insurmountable 4-0 team aggregate.
In the earlier doubles face-off, Orillano paired up with Diego to crush James Pang and Nikolas Katigbak, 6-1, 6-1.
Villarete and Keane’s older brother Maclean began the UST carnage, whipping Eufracio Dimayuga, (6-2, 6-2) and Alexander Borela (6-0, 6-2), in their respective singles matches to give the España-based tennisters a commanding 2-0 lead.
Meanwhile Cañete dropped the first set but quickly regained his composure to post a 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 win over Arithmetico Lim in the third singles action.
Prior to disposing UP, the Male Tennisters carved a similar 5-0 manhandling of the University of the East last February 3.
The older Barraquias kicked off the UST rampage with a 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Novo Navarro. Villarete and Keff Gamana followed suit, ousting Lyndon Mantua (6-3, 6-2) and Michael Belen (6-2, 6-2), respectively.
Repunte and the younger Barraquias then carried the UST onslaught in doubles play, ripping Rhoel Santiago and Andre Orilla, 6-4, 6-2 before Diego and Wilbur Orillano essayed the biggest downfall of the contest – a 6-0, 6-0 mangling of UE’s Joseph Nieva and Austin Villalon in the second doubles encounter.
UST had earlier trampled UE, 4-1, last January 26, two days after fashioning an identical 4-1 bashing of De La Salle University last January 24. The Male Tennisters debuted with a 5-0 blanking of Ateneo De Manila University last January 16.
Champions anew
In the distaff side, the UST Lady Tennisters wrote their own Season 70 championship story with a 3-1 drubbing of Ateneo De Manila in the finals of the UAAP Womens Lawn Tennis wars last February 23.
With UST leading, 2-1, heading into what turned out to be the championship-deciding second singles match, newly named MVP Nikki Manalo of UST found herself in a dogfight against Rookie of the Year Ivey De Castro in the second set following a 6-3 win by Manalo in the first set.
De Castro succumbed to cramps after chasing down a swift forehand smash by Manalo with the score knotted at 5-5. After taking to the court following a short break, De Castro was forced to concede the match after suffering from cramps again, which automatically gifted the crown to the España-based tennisters.
In the first singles match, Tina Rivero received a 0-6, 1-6 thrashing at the hands of Ateneo’s Michelle Pang.
But in doubles play, Kathleen Castro teamed up with Tina Santos to bring down the Ateneo duo of Carla Ferrer and Isabelle Ong, 6-2, 6-2.
Finishing just before the events that transpired in the deciding singles match, the hard-hitting tandem of Heather May Herrera and JC Ortelano conquered the Ateneo pair of Britany Araneta and Kat Pamintuan, 6-1, 6-4.
Before their finals encounter with Ateneo, the Lady Tennisters narrowly escaped a gritty De La Salle University squad, 3-2, last February 3.
Season 69 MVP Ara Micayabas and Manalo rescued the Lady Tennisters from outright defeat as they ruled their separate singles assignments to offset the 3-6, 4-6 loss of teammate Martina Rivero against Nikki De Dios.
Micayabas humbled Nadine Castilloin, 6-2, 6-2, while Manalo swamped Gelene Dimaculangan, 6-0, 6-0.
On the other hand, Santos and Castro went the full route of their doubles face off with the La Salle tandem of Ana Buenviaje and Sherry Ong before yielding a 6-0, 0-6, 6-3 decision. Herrera and Ortelano however retaliated with a 6-2, 6-0 triumph over Maria Binoya and Stef Dizon.
Before narrowly escaping La Salle, the Lady Tennisters posted two straight victories against UP, 4-1, last January 27, and 5-0 last January 26 to cap the first round, following a stinging 2-3 defeat against arch-rivals La Salle last January 20.
Emerging from a 6-0 first-set win, Manalo appeared on the verge of gifting UST the marginal point in the make-or-break third singles match. But Manalo, who was leading the second set, 4-2, succumbed to leg cramps, allowing her La Salle opponent to wrest the upperhand at the turn, 4-6. The referee, judging that the welfare of Manalo was more important, then called off the match, declaring the Lady Tennister unfit to continue which automatically awarded the match to La Salle.
In the other singles matches, Rivero pounded Reshna Hemlani, 6-0, 6-1 while Micayabas trounced Gelene Dimaculangan, 6-0, 6-0, to compensate for the doubles setbacks of Santos and Herrera (2-6, 4-6) and Cathy Castro and Kwin Bilugan (7-5, 3-6, 4-6).
The Lady Tennisters jumpstarted their title defense with a 3-2 squeaker against Ateneo last January 13. With reports from Emil Karlo Dela Cruz
