UAAPS77 Men's Finals: Ateneo vs NU

The first match of the finals series was a doozy for Ateneo de Manila fans as they were able to win it in 4 sets versus the defending champions National University. Stats summary for the first match below:

As you can see above, Ateneo has dominated the game in almost all skills. Biggest advantages for Ateneo are their attacks and passes: AttackEff% for Ateneo at 29%, even higher than their eliminations average of 27%, and their passing% at 89%. Although Ateneo commits more service errors per set (4.25 vs 2.00), their seemingly inconsistent (i.e. error prone) service shouldn't be taken lightly: the fact that they have more aces per set means that they are being aggressive on the serve - Ateneo's main strategy is to take control of the rally via strong serves so that the opponent cannot set up good plays for their attackers, which is why NU's passing% is only at 77%, and can also explain why they have fewer excellent sets (12.75 vs Ateneo's 14.25) and therefore attacks (49 atks vs Ateneo's 64). NU's offense suffered because their floor defense cannot hold, and they should address it this game. For Ateneo, they just need to keep doing what they've been doing in the first game, but be wary of relaxing as they will be facing of a more compelled NU team.

Keys to the Match - National University

• Passing efficiency shouldn't be below 30% - it is imperative that they must receive the ball better, not just to avoid giving opponent service aces, but for their own benefit as well to gain back momentum as well as better chances of getting a side out. In the elimination rounds, their average passeff% for won games was 30.2%, and 25.3% for lost games.
• Point contribution of the team from atks, blks and aces should be at least 70% of total points won - in other words, they need to be able to take control of the game. In the game 1 of the finals, their point contribution was only at 62.8%, which means 37.2% of their won points came from opponent errors, which is a fatal mistake to make in volleyball - you cannot just rely on opponent errors to win a game.

Keys to the Match - Ateneo de Manila University

• Continue to be aggressive on the serve. Despite committing more errors, they won the games where the team took more risk on the service line.
• Floor defense should persist throughout the match, so that they could set up their attacks well.

Prediction: Ateneo, if NU cannot make the necessary adjustments in their floor defense.