La Salle's VALORANT team in action in the 2024 UAAP Esports VALORANT Tournament, August 13, 2024 at the Areté in the Ateneo de Manila University campus in Quezon City. UAAP Media

MANILA -- De La Salle University lived up to the hype, emerging victorious in a highly anticipated opening encounter against archrival Ateneo de Manila University, 13-4, 13-6, to close out the opening day of the 2024 UAAP Esports VALORANT Tournament on Tuesday at Areté Ateneo in Quezon City.

Viridis Arcus coach Xavier Juan was unsurprised by their dominant victory, expressing confidence in the squad he has assembled.

"We expected to win naman against Ateneo. We came prepared. We practiced around six to eight hours a day this upcoming week for the UAAP. We're pretty confident that we can win the whole thing. Ateneo played good but we were better today," he said.

Despite playing on Ateneo's home turf, La Salle displayed razor-sharp poise, dismantling its rivals to secure the full three points.

"Sobrang ingay nung crowd who were cheering for Ateneo, which is a good thing naman. Pero my boys they've been in other LAN (on-site) events so it's nothing new to them and they like playing in front of a stage. We're happy that a lot of people came out to support the event. Even if they cheered for Ateneo, we were still happy that they came to watch," said Juan of playing against their archrival inside their opponent's backyard.

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Playing in front of a raucous pro-Ateneo crowd didn't seem to bother La Salle's Derick Ong, who exploded for five kills and seven assists while only conceding two deaths in the first six rounds of Game 1, spearheading his team to a 6-0 lead that they maintained throughout to secure the opening victory, 13-4.

Game 2 followed a similar script, as La Salle's Lucas Gruenberg and Miguel Fernando Dy combined for 23 kills, pushing Viridis Arcus to a quick 6-1 cushion.

La Salle, also represented by Aaron Francis Sablay, Gerardo Luis Corpus II, and Lance Elmo Gacayan, never looked threatened the rest of the way, cruising to a 13-6 closeout victory.

In the other Group A match, Adamson University, composed of Kevin Roy Buenaventura, Mark Jason Cahanding, Learn Angelo De Jose, Cedric Josh Esguerra, Ralph Michael Molina, and Angelo Mark Pacis, survived a close opening encounter against Far Eastern University before dominating Game 2 for a 13-8, 13-3 sweep.

The Falcons are tied with the Viridis Arcus for the lead in Group A with three points. Both the Tamaraws Esports and the Blue Eagles currently have zero points.

In Group B, University of the Philippines, composed of Lance Veyonce Clemente, Nathan Gabriel Danac, Jose Benedicto Dasas, Rafael Anton Somera, Cyrus Toring, and Paul Julian Uson, made a victorious debut by dominating National University with a 13-6, 13-4 sweep.

Meanwhile, University of Santo Tomas, composed of John Matthew Cuaresma, Damien Joshua Santos, Carl Angelo Baldovia, Nathan Kyle Manuta, Angelo Kyan Ysibido, and Erl Adrik Mariano, survived a late fightback from University of the East to pull off a 13-6, 13-9 victory.

The Fighting Maroons and Teletigers currently have three points, while the Bulldogs and the Zenith Esports remain scoreless.

Only the top two teams from each group will move on to the cross-over semifinals on Friday, August 16.

Day 2 of the group stage will kick off on Wednesday at 10:00 a.m. in Areté, Ateneo.