Give And Go
By Michael Angelo S. Murillo
The elimination round of the women’s volleyball tournament in Season 81 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines is technical not yet over as two teams are still to dispute the second seed in a one-game playoff today. But the semifinal protagonists are already known and, boy, the Final Four of women’s play should be a good one.
Composed of undeniably the best teams this season, this year’s Final Four will have the Ateneo Lady Eagles (12-2) as top seeds with defending champions De La Salle Lady Spikers (10-4) and University of Santo Tomas Golden Tigresses (10-4) either taking second spot depending on the outcome of their playoff. The Far Eastern University and Lady Tamaraws (9-5) are at fourth.
The Lady Eagles face off with the Lady Tamaraws in the semifinals with the former enjoying a twice-to-beat advantage while the Lady Spikers and Tigressess collide in the other pairing which has been rendered a de facto best-of-three affair because of their scheduled playoff today at the FilOil Flying V Arena in San Juan.
A rematch of last year’s semifinal encounter, there is going to be no love lost between Ateneo and FEU in this one.
The tables have been turned this time around which bodes well for the Katipunan-based team but I am not counting out outright the ability of the Morayta-based players to make things happen.
Ateneo has been the most consistent team in Season 81 and responding well under the stewardship of coach Oliver Almadro.
It has a solid core of Kat Tolentino, Maddie Madayag, Bea de Leon, Jules Samonte, Deanna Wong and Ponggay Gaston which together has done wonders against opponents not La Salle.
The Lady Eagles have a more firm grip on who they are as a team than last year and while they are showing vulnerabilities here and there, by and large, they have been topnotch.
On the other end, FEU has had its ups and downs this season but when it is clicking it is about as dangerous as it can get even for a team like Ateneo.
The loss of rookie Lycha Ebon because of injury was a huge blow but the Lady Tamaraws have been managing on the lead of veterans Heather Guino-o, Jerrili Malabanan and Kyle Negrito.
They also have players like Cel Domingo, Nette Villarreal, Czarina Carandang, Ivan Agudo, Gel Cayuna and France Ronquillo who are capable of changing the complexion of games in their team’s favor.
Ateneo just needs to look at FEU’s last game against La Salle on Sunday, a five-sets win, to get a clear view of what an in-synch Lady Tamaraws can do.
La Salle-UST is equally engaging for the two teams are similar in composition of quality veterans and rookies.
The Lady Spikers have been solid for much of the season with veterans Des Cheng, Aduke Ogunsanya, May Luna, Michelle Cobb and Tin Tiamzon working with new players like Jolina Dela Cruz and Des Clemente.
Obviously this is not the La Salle team that won the title last year as up to this point it seemingly is still looking for the form it wants to be in. But it is nonetheless a good team to be overlooked.
UST, for its part, is the hottest team heading into the Final Four and the Lady Spikers should be wary of that.
Sisi Rondina and the Tigresses are on mission of making it a final year for the former to remember and bring back the title to España.
The Tigresses have the tools to do so as apart from Rondina they have super rookie Eya Laure in their fold with quality contributions coming from the likes of Caitlin Viray, KC Galdones, Mafe Galanza, Dimdim Pacres and Ysa Jimenez.
They have been on the same page since the start and it is hard to argue with the results.
Laure versus Dela Cruz in a super rookie collision is to be kept an eye on. It should be fun.
UAAP Season 81 women’s volleyball has been an eventful one so far and should continue to bring exciting goods in the championship rounds. Looking forward to an enjoyable ride.
Michael Angelo S. Murillo has been a columnist since 2003. He is a BusinessWorld senior reporter covering the Sports beat.
