Opening their first match, the HAU men’s volleyball team routed the Colegio de la Purisima Concepcion (CPC) Saints, 3 – 2, while the women’s team suffered their first loss to University of the East (UE) Lady Red Warriors, falling 0 – 3, in University Games (Unigames) Season 26 at Bacolod City National High School on October 24.
With two early set wins, 25 – 22 and 25 – 23, in the men’s volleyball category, the Guardians started strong but faltered in the third set, losing 22 – 25.
Highlighting the fourth set, the set started with the Guardians leading with a 18 – 14 lead, but the CPC Saints closed the gap after a back-and-forth play as the Guardians lost their lead playing on a lossy defense.
The fourth set continued with the Guardians and Saints chasing to tie each of their scores, where the Guardians lost points after serving multiple outsides.
Eventually, the fourth set saw the CPC Saints rise to 23 – 25 above the guardians after Team Captain Lucky Manabat failed to return the ball over the net. A 2 – 2 tie was then announced, with both teams scoring.
The decisive fifth set started strong for the Guardians, garnering an extended lead of five points, 6 – 1, 7 – 2, 8 – 3, where the Saints failed to catch up, allowing the Guardians to have a six point lead of 10 – 4.
Multiple back-and-forths paired with a weak defense then allowed the Saints to tighten the gap from the Guardians to a score of 12 – 10.
The fifth set finished with Shane Garcia putting down a decisive spike to end the match with a 15 – 13 score, hailing HAU as the winner for the opening game of the Unigames 2025.
While the HAU women suffered a harsh defeat at the hands of the UE Lady Red Warriors, unable to shake off their opponent’s dominance and falling in straight sets, 9 – 25. 17 – 25, 11 – 25.
From the very start of the first set, the Guardians struggled to return the Warriors’ thunderous hits, as the ball often bounced off them, putting them at an early 1 – 8 disadvantage.
During the second set, the HAU women took an early lead, reaching a 6 – 6 deadlock in the first minutes. However, the Lady Red Warriors quickly surged ahead, scoring nine unanswered points to reach 16, as the Golden Guardians struggled to respond to rapid attacks that often bounced off them.
In the final set, a 14-point gap proved too much for HAU, handing UE the women’s indoor volleyball victory and marking HAU’s first loss of the match.
With these results, the men’s volleyball team holds a 1 – 0 win-loss record, while the women’s team drops to 0 – 1.
