With Season 80 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Women’s Volleyball tournament just around the corner, this piece takes stock of the Premier Volleyball League (PVL) Women’s Collegiate Conference held from September to October 2017, recapping the Lady Eagles’ performance and answering some questions posed by their play.

THE ATENEO Lady Eagles ended the inaugural season of the PVL Women’s Collegiate Conference, formerly known as the Shakey’s V-League, with a 3-2 record in the group stage, but failed to qualify for the semifinals.

The tournament saw Ateneo drawn in Group A with fellow UAAP teams in National University (NU) Lady Bulldogs and Far Eastern University (FEU) Lady Tamaraws, as well as National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) squads San Sebastian College-Recoletos (SSC-R) Lady Stags, Lyceum of the Philippines (LPU) Lady Pirates, and Jose Rizal University (JRU) Lady Bombers.

Ateneo finished below the two UAAP teams in their group, losing to both in four sets. The NCAA teams, however, proved to be no match for Ateneo as the Lady Eagles won all three games in straight sets.

Match results

FEU (4-1) and NU (5-0) were able to advance to the finals where NU took the gold and completed their tournament sweep with two consecutive four-set wins in the championship series. Lady Bulldog Jaja Santiago took home the Conference Most Valuable Player (MVP) award, while her teammate and setter Jasmine Nabor was awarded as the Finals MVP, stamping NU’s mark as the preseason favorite.

Roster changes from last season

The Lady Eagles added four new rookies to the UAAP Season 80 lineup: Dani Ravena, Bettina Abella, Syd Eleazar, and Candice Gequillana. Missing from last year’s lineup is UAAP Season 77 Best Setter, PVL Open Conference Best Setter, and former captain Jia Morado, who forfeited her last year of eligibility but came back to serve as an assistant coach to the Lady Eagles. Key player Mich Morente also left the Lady Eagles due to academics. The UAAP Season 79 MVP candidate has since left Ateneo and has enrolled in De La Salle University. Other absentees from last year’s lineup are Jamie Lavitoria, who is currently on academic probation, and Gizelle Tan, who graduated after last season.

The starting six of the preseason tourney was composed of Deanna Wong, Jules Samonte, Kat Tolentino, Jho Maraguinot, Bea De Leon, Maddie Madayag, and, in a surprise move to many, Kim Gequillana at libero. This change came as a surprise to fans, as this would nullify the use of her killer serve. Since Wong was moved to the setter position, this left the team without a starting caliber libero, which prompted Coach Tai Bundit to assign K. Gequillana due to her skill in floor defense.

However, K. Gequillana suffered a season-ending knee injury in their match against FEU, which gave room for Eleazar to take up the mantle as the team’s libero.

Three for three over NCAA teams

On September 2, the Lady Eagles began the season with a dominant straight-set win over JRU (25-17, 25-15, 25-15), thanks to Wong’s exceptional performance behind the service line. She had five service aces and 32/76 excellent sets.

After a loss to FEU, the Lady Eagles were able to get back in track with a close win over LPU. Despite Maraguinot being out of the lineup due to a foot sprain, the Lady Eagles used their deep bench to triumph in straight sets (25-23, 25-20, 25-20). With K. Gequillana out for the season, Coach Tai opted to start Eleazar at libero for the first time. The bargain paid off as the rookie had a solid performance with 16 of 32 excellent digs as well as 10 of 22 excellent receives.

On September 23, the team played their last game against SSC-R Lady Stags who finished as the undefeated top seed in NCAA Season 92. The Blue and White kept the Lady Stags to a meager total of 37 points in a total of three sets, 13 of which came from errors by Ateneo. The Katipunan-based squad scored 14 service aces, prompting Ateneo Assistant Coach Ed Ortega to commend his team’s performance behind the service line as key in disrupting the offense of the NCAA powerhouse.

Injuries and losses

The absences of De Leon due to a required school immersion as well as Madayag and Ana Gopico due to injuries forced Coach Tai to tinker with his lineup against FEU. These shortages forced K. Gequillana back to an attacking role, while Ponggay Gaston was given extended playing time. Ria Lo and Eleazar suited up as the team’s liberos in place of K. Gequillana.

Ateneo took the first set thanks to their serves and defense at the net, but FEU was able to rally together to take the next three sets (25-17, 21-25, 19-25, 14-25). This loss was mainly due to FEU’s comeback in the second set and early scoring runs in the third and fourth. To add to Ateneo’s woes, it was also in this defeat that the Lady Eagles lost their longest tenured player K. Gequillana to a season-ending torn left Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) early in the third set which further weakened the team’s floor defense. (More on Gequillana’s UAAP status later.)

Wong was able to average 10.5 excellent sets per set even without two of her starting middle blockers. However, Ateneo’s overall offense took a hit as they finished with an extremely inefficient attacking rate of 19.86%. FEU’s libero Kyla Atienza had a superb performance and pulled 24 excellent digs, which contributed to Ateneo’s low attacking efficiency.

Sans K. Gequillana, the Lady Eagles were in full force against NU. However, the situation was dire at this point of the tourney, as Ateneo would have needed to defeat the two-time defending preseason champion Lady Bulldogs while hoping that FEU would lose too.

After splitting the first two sets, the Lady Eagles took the early lead in the third, which was a set crucial in deciding the momentum of the match. However, the Lady Bulldogs took control with multiple kill blocks, ultimately taking the third set, 25-19.

The key stats in this set were blocks and serves. Ateneo had zero blocks in the third set as opposed to NU’s six, which happened to be the number of points NU won the set by. Ateneo only scored one service ace in this set–their lowest for the game–which may be attributed to the receivers becoming more accustomed to Ateneo’s deadly serving. This allows the attackers an easier opportunity to score as they are able to better pass the first ball to the setter.

In the third set, Coach Tai opted to substitute in Gaston for Madayag who had scored only one point in the contest so far, a move which may have affected Ateneo’s defense at the net.

The fourth set started as a back-and-forth affair with teams trading runs all the way until a kill by Tolentino tied the game at 21-21. At this point, it could be said that unfortunate rotations hampered the Lady Eagles’ chances of victory. Their next rotation had the towering 6’2” Tolentino in the back row serving, which weakened their defense at the net.

A kill by NU and an ace by Nabor, their setter, put the score at 21-23. Maraguinot answered back with a kill off the block. However, the rotation bug struck again as Gaston, a middle blocker, was on the service line which allowed NU to score with an attack aimed right at Gaston. Maraguinot tried to extend the game, but her spike was denied by NU’s Risa Sato and Aiko Urdas, which ended the Lady Eagles’ PVL campaign. The lost points in crunch time due to unfavorable rotation may call for the team to focus more on their defense.

After losing this match to NU, Ateneo needed the FEU Lady Tamaraws to lose to LPU in order to advance. However, the Lady Tams prevailed in four sets to eliminate the Lady Eagles from playoff contention.

Statistical strengths

In the preliminaries, the Lady Eagles were the best serving team with 3.29 service aces per set. Behind them was FEU, averaging only 2.89 aces per set. Wong and De Leon were the team’s top servers with a combined total of 25 service aces.

The Lady Eagles also ranked third among the 12 teams in blocking with an average of 1.65 kill blocks per set. Above them were Adamson University (AdU) in second place, averaging 1.95, while the University of the Philippines (UP) led the league in blocking with an average of 2.21 kill blocks per set. With Madayag and De Leon as the primary blockers and Gaston and Gopico on the bench, the Lady Eagles possess an abundance of capable blockers in the middle.

The libero problem

The most glaring weakness for the Lady Eagles was in digging as they ranked eighth in the league and last among all UAAP teams. With an average of 12.88 digs per set, the biggest reason for this may be the loss of K. Gequillana to injury as she did start the season as the team’s primary libero.

However, things may change as Eleazar becomes more accustomed to college level volleyball or if the coaching staff finds a new libero. Vanessa Baguiwet from the Ateneo Women’s Track and Field Team is a prime candidate, but she did not join the volleyball team in their most recent training camp in Thailand. Her participation in the volleyball team is up to her Track and Field coaches, as this sport is also held in the second semester.

As of writing, K. Gequillana will not be able to play in Season 80 and she may decide to come back next year for another season. Her replacement on the lineup may either be Baguiwet or Ann Basa, who spent the PVL season as one of the team’s student managers. In addition, Basa joined the team in their Thailand training camp and in their recent photoshoot with ABS-CBN Sports, which may improve her chances of cracking the UAAP lineup.

Breakout Players: Wong and Eleazar

In the preliminaries, Wong led the league in service aces with 15. She also averaged 9.24 excellent sets per set, which meant she was the third best setter in the league according to this category, right behind NU’s Nabor (9.72) and Arellano University’s Rhea Ramirez (11.47). These are impressive stats as Wong spent last season in an exclusively defensive role as the team’s primary libero.

Eleazar was a revelation for the Lady Eagles as the rookie libero ranked eighth in terms of digging with an average of 3.29 digs per set. Her best game came against NU, the best spiking team in the league and the eventual champions of the PVL. She racked up 25 excellent digs against the likes of Santiago and Sato who was named as the second Best Middle Blocker.

Other noteworthy individual season statistics include Maraguinot’s 33.06% spiking success rate, enough to name her 10th in the league. Tolentino emerged as Ateneo’s top scorer and 16th overall in the PVL with 43 spikes, four blocks, and five service aces, while De Leon’s 10 aces ranked her sixth in the league in this aspect.

Expectations

Although, the Lady Eagles are definitely young and eager, the absence of former setter and captain Morado is definitely being felt as can be seen in the team’s attacking efficiency. However, Wong is showing potential as she is filling her role well and hopefully growing into a top setter in the UAAP. Aside from setting, her skill behind the service line will be vital to the Ateneo’s success.

As per Coach Tai’s decision, the reins of UAAP captaincy will be with middle blocker Madayag while Tolentino will serve as the team’s co-captain. It will be up to these two veterans to lead the team on and off the court.

Will the Lady Eagles push for a rebuild as early as this season or will they continue their streak of Final Four appearances that started all the way back in Season 72? Season 80 is shaping up to be an interesting one for Ateneo Women’s Volleyball.