Ryan Mendoza in action for UP in the UAAP Season 88 men's badminton tournament. UAAP Media
MANILA -- It will be the University of the Philippines against the Ateneo de Manila University for top honors in the UAAP Season 88 men's badminton tournament.
This, after they posted contrasting wins over National University and De La Salle University in the Final 4 on Tuesday at the Rizal Memorial Badminton Hall.
The Fighting Maroons dethroned the Bulldogs, 3-1, with newcomers Arjay Lazareto and Ryan Mendoza showing poise under pressure in the second doubles match against John Benedict Gam and James Villarante.
Meanwhile, Lyrden Laborte continued his stellar campaign for the Blue Eagles, sweeping his day's assignments — including a doubles win with Robby Ramos — to power Ateneo into the Finals.
This marks the first Final without NU in contention since Season 73 (2010), and the first-ever title clash between UP and Ateneo.
The championship duel is set on Wednesday at 8 a.m., still at the Malate venue.
Just like in Season 81 (2018) when then-rookie Kyle Legaspi carried UP to the Finals — their most recent appearance — first-year players Lazareto and Mendoza once again played the hero's role. The duo turned an opening-game setback into fuel, rallying to defeat Gam and Villarante, 19-21, 21-13, 21-19, in a grueling one-hour-and-three-minute thriller.
"Ang mentality lang namin is underdog mindset. And sa totoo lang, inalay lang talaga namin 'to kay Lord, ako, personally, and 'yung buong team, kasi alam naman kung ga'no kabigat 'yung kalaban namin. Pero ang inisip lang din namin, parehas kaming may mga raketa dito, parehas kaming nag-training, so talagang anybody's ball game," said Lazareto, a Masters in Human Movement Science student-athlete who was the NCAA Season 99 Rookie-MVP during his time with San Beda University.
"Lagi lang naming sinasabi kanina na kaya natin 'to, kaya namin 'to. Hindi na lang namin iniisip na mabigat 'yung kalaban namin. Ang inisip na lang namin is we will enjoy every moment and every point of the game."
(Our mindset was just to stay as underdogs. Honestly, we offered this to the Lord — me personally, and the whole team — because we knew how tough our opponents were. But we just reminded ourselves that we all have rackets, we all trained hard, so it's really anybody's ball game. We just kept telling ourselves earlier, 'We can do this, we've got this.' We stopped thinking about how strong our opponents were and just focused on enjoying every moment and every point of the game.)
UP seniors Jelo Albo and Kervin Llanes opened the day with commanding performances in the singles matches.
Albo, a Smash Pilipinas standout, needed just 30 minutes to blast MJ Perez, 21-10, 21-9, while the returning Llanes followed with a similar rout of rookie Ben Dictado, 21-19, 21-15.
Just when the Fighting Maroons were close to toppling the defending champions, last year's MVP Lanz Zafra and Perez gave NU a brief lifeline.
Down 10-15 in the first game, the duo found their rhythm and pulled off a comeback win against Albo and Mark Anthony Bernal in the first doubles match, 21-16, 19-21, 21-17.
However, Lazareto and Mendoza sealed the deal, completing the upset and sending UP to its first Finals appearance in seven years.
Ateneo's Lyrden Laborte in the UAAP Season 88 men's badminton tournament. UAAP Media
On the other hand, top-seeded Ateneo leaned on the explosive play of Season 86 co-MVP Laborte to sweep De La Salle, 3-0.
Laborte opened the tie with a 21-17, 21-16 victory over Miguel Cuarte in 38 minutes, setting the tone for the Blue Eagles. National juniors standout JR Pandi then doubled Ateneo's lead with a 21-14, 21-17 win over fellow rookie Lovic Javier.
De La Salle's graduating senior Joshua Morada and partner Yuan Tan forced a third game in the doubles rubber, but Laborte and Ramos proved too steady down the stretch, clinching the sweep, 21-12, 19-21, 21-16.
"Siguro, dahil nga nagkaroon kami ng rest day dahil sa (playoffs) schedule, we had an opportunity na maka-recover," said Ateneo co-captain Laborte.
"Parang tinake lang namin 'yun, nagpahinga kami and nag-prepare kami kasi 'yung mga teams ngayon gutom silang manalo. Katulad kanina, na lumaban talaga 'yung De La Salle, buti na lang prepared kami sa gano'ong pwede mangyari."
(Maybe because we had a rest day due to the playoff schedule, we got the chance to recover. We just took that opportunity — rested and prepared — since all the teams now are hungry to win. Like earlier, De La Salle really fought hard, but thankfully, we were ready for whatever could happen.)
Meanwhile, NU — which has not missed the podium since joining the league in this sport — will aim to retain a top-three finish when it faces De La Salle in the battle for third place, also at 8 a.m.