THE ATENEO Lady Spikers defied all the odds as they were crowned women’s volleyball champions of the 76th season of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines. Their three-set victory, 25-23, 26-24 and 25-21, over the three-time defending champions De La Salle University (DLSU) Lady Archers on Saturday, March 15, at the Mall of Asia (MOA) Arena in Pasay sealed the squad’s first crown in team history.
A tale of two teams
The 76th season featured a dominant DLSU squad that tallied record after record throughout the duration of their campaign. From Coach Ramil de Jesus’ milestone 200th win to the historic 30-game win streak that gave birth to DLSU’s 14-0 elimination round record, the Taft-based university was deemed as the favourite entering the finals.
DLSU’s Finals opponent, on the other hand, had to crawl through adversity throughout the year. Injuries to regular rotation players Ana Gopico and Marge Tejada forced Ateneo Coach Anusorn “Tai” Bundit to experiment with various lineups in the middle of the season. In addition, Coach Tai had to leave the squad in the middle of the tournament because of his obligations to the Thailand women’s national team.
Season 76 Most Valuable Player (MVP) and Finals MVP Alyssa Valdez shared that the team had to work twice as hard due to their circumstances, “Nag-work hard talaga lahat. Every training, focused kami sa pinapagawa sa amin. Kinailangan namin mag-double time kasi maraming nawala. (Everyone really worked hard. Every training we were focused on what we had to do. We had to double our effort because of the absence of some personnel.)”
Photo by Ryan Y. Racca
Poise under pressure
Aside from injuries and Coach Tai’s untimely absence, the girls donning the Blue and White had to take the long road towards securing their first women’s volleyball crown.
As a result of DLSU’s unblemished elimination record, the tournament featured a step ladder Final Four format instead of the traditional Final Four format. With a 10-4 win-loss record, the Ateneo had a team standing that was good enough for the third seed. In the step ladder format, this meant that they would have to defeat fourth seed Adamson University (AdU) in a knock-out game and win two-consecutive games against second seed National University (NU) just to make it to the Finals where top seed DLSU would have a twice-to-win, thrice-to-beat advantage.
Despite the tall order, the Ateneo Lady Spikers survived a total of five do-or-die matches in the postseason on their way to the title. Their postseason journey started with a 26-24, 25-23 and 25-21 triumph to eliminate the AdU Lady Falcons. They then overcame a twice-to-beat disadvantage to shock NU. They won Game One, 25-17, 12-25, 31-29 and 28-26, to extend their season and secured Game Two, 25-22, 8-25, 25-19 and 25-22, to earn the right to face DLSU in the Finals.
Finally, amidst the Lady Archers’ thrice-to-beat buffer, Ateneo somehow pulled off the unthinkable in this year’s championship series. Throughout the duration of the series, Ateneo recorded their first victory against DLSU in Season 76, snapped DLSU’s historic 30-game win streak, survived a championship point in Game Three’s five-set thriller, managed to halt a potential DLSU four-peat, which would’ve been a tournament first, and secured the university’s first ever women’s volleyball crown.
Photo by Ryan Y. Racca
New year, new ending
It seemed improbable for Ateneo to complete such a feat with a young and rookie-laden team, especially after a more hyped Fab Five-led Ateneo squad came up short in a similar situation two years ago.
Season 74 saw Fille Cainglet, Jem Ferrer, Dzi Gervacio, Gretchen Ho and Aillysse Nacachi lead Ateneo to the Finals for the first time and steal Game One against an undefeated DLSU squad only to drop the next two games and watch their archrivals capture their second straight title.
The Fab Five would get another opportunity in Season 75, their final player year. However, another Ateneo-La Salle Finals matchup ended with a familiar result: DLSU raising another championship banner.
With the Fab Five no longer suiting up for the Katipunan-based squad and a new coach patrolling the team’s sideline, no one expected another showdown between the rivals in Season 76’s Finals, not even the Lady Spikers.
“Start ng season, mababa lang ‘yung goal namin: mag-Final Four, (At the start of the season, our goal wasn’t high: qualify for the Final Four,)” admits Season 76 Best Receiver and Best Digger Dennise Lazaro.
But despite all of the predictions and expectations before and during the tournament, the same two teams would once again be battling it out in the biggest stage of the tournament, this time with a new outcome.
For all the marbles
The young Ateneo Lady Spikers led by veterans Valdez, Lazaro and Ella de Jesus entered Saturday’s deciding match with confidence powered by Coach Tai’s words, “If you believe you can win, you can win.”
The first set of the match featured Valdez bursting hot early on the offensive end. She carried the team to a 15-10 lead and forced DLSU to call for time. The quick huddle of the Lady Archers worked to their advantage as Ara Galang’s accurate down-the-line winners proved to be a burden on Ateneo’s floor defense and paved the way for an Aby Maraño front-row specialty to give DLSU a one-point lead at 18-17.
That was when Valdez found support from her co-captain, de Jesus. The savvy veterans willed Ateneo back to the set with a variation of off-speed hits and cross-court kills which ultimately allowed the Ateneo to draw first blood, 25-23.
DLSU quickly retaliated come the second set with an explosive 7-1 start. Maraño initiated the pace for the Lady Archers and her efficiency from the service zone gave DLSU a commanding 17-10 cushion.
With the set starting to slip away, the Ateneo found a way to pull within striking distance due to Michelle Morente’s relentlessness to attack the DLSU line of blockers. This, however, did not prevent the Lady Archers from attaining set-point at 24-21.
But just as how it was constantly reiterated during the entire postseason, the Ateneo remained true to their “heart strong” and “happy” mentality. This gave birth to a 5-0 scoring run pocketed from Valdez’s attacks and well-timed blocks from Amy Ahomiro to completely steal the momentum from DLSU and secure the second set at 26-24.
The third set displayed absolute pandemonium from the Blue and White crowd at the MOA arena as the Ateneo seemed to connect on every single angle. The anticipation of a possible historic championship mounted as de Jesus, Valdez and Morente at one point padded their lead to 20-13.
DLSU tallied a brief comeback to slither within two at 21-19. But the hunger and desire for the first title was evident in the Katipunan-based squad’s resiliency. The DLSU surge did not deem any panic from Ateneo as Valdez and company took initiative to finish the season. At match point, the ever-reliable libero Lazaro properly received Mika Reyes’ serve which opened up the opportunity for rookie setter Julia Morado to craft an excellent set for the soaring Valdez to end the set at 25-23 and secure the team’s first title.
Valdez was named the Finals MVP after tallying 21 points, 19 coming from attacks, in the deciding match. She, however, got more than enough support from her teammates. Morado displayed tremendous court-vision once again with 24 excellent sets that led to double figure numbers from de Jesus and Morente, who had 10 and 11 markers respectively. Lazaro also contributed 18 excellent receptions.
Photo by Ryan Y. Racca
According to a champion
After the game, the multi-awarded Valdez shared one of the team’s secrets to success, “Nag-work sa amin ‘yung no pressure. Kasi last year expected ng mga tao na mag-fa-finals. This year wala talagang nag-expect na pumasok kami sa finals so wala sa amin ‘yung pressure. (The fact that there was no pressure really worked for us. Last year, everyone expected our team to reach the finals. This year, people didn’t really expect us to make it to the finals so the pressure wasn’t on us.)”
She later on added that the psychological aspect of Coach Tai’s mentoring really honed their team well. From the “happy” mindset to the deep meditation, Valdez explained that they plan on repeating the same game-plan for the succeeding season, “Siguro iyon ‘yung nag-work sa amin. So iyon ‘yung i-me-maintain namin as a team. Kailangang maging happy parati sa court at magkaroon ng teamwork. (That’s what worked for us. So that’s what we’re planning on maintaining as a team. We need to always be happy on the court and have a sense of teamwork.)”
Given the pressure-packed situation of the match, Valdez shares how she managed to remain calm and keep her team composed, “Nag-build na rin ‘yung confidence ko sa latter part of the third set. Kasi nandito na kami, bakit pa kami mag-da-doubt sa sarili namin? (My confidence built up in the latter part of the third set. This was because we we’re already here, why else should we doubt ourselves?)”
“God’s will talaga kung bakit kami nanalo, (It was really God’s will why we won,)” concluded the newly crowned champion Valdez.
