Grit to define Ateneo vs UST UAAP volleyball finals clash

MANILA, Philippines – The unlikeliest of contenders in the 81st UAAP women’s volleyball tournament are going to meet for the season championship.

Ateneo and UST booked contrasting wins en route to the finals.

Ateneo, the top-seeded team at 12-2, had to go the full route in the Final Four against a surging Far Eastern University Lady Tamaraws team, beating them in Game Two (25-20, 21-25, 25-23, 25-14). 

The rising UST Golden Tigresses, meanwhile, knocked out three-time defending champions La Salle in a thrilling best-of-three series in two matches, including a second game where they averted a meltdown and hung tough in the fifth set to barge into the finals. 

The Lady Eagles’ 12-2 record in the elimination round can be misleading. Every single one of those matches was hard fought. Even the three-set sweeps hardly told the story of a struggle.

Against the Lady Tamaraws in the Final Four, it was a struggle. Ateneo lost the first game in five sets then got back in the do-or-die match in four sets. In both games, the Katipunan-based squad lost the second set. But in the final meeting, they bounced back to take the third and fourth sets.

Their record notwithstanding, this team of Lady Eagles may not be the slickest or most talented. Maybe they aren’t a well-oiled machine. Maybe some players aren’t as consistent as fans and analysts would like them to be, but so far, they have got the job done. No one figured them to make the finals. No one. And they are here in the finals.

When Ateneo gets points from all sides of the front court, chances are they will come away as winners. It was spread once more with Katrina Tolentino and Ponggay Gaston scoring from the side and with Maddie Madayag and Bea De Leon racking up points in the middle. 

Jules Samonte had a tough day but she was battling it out. And any contributions from Deanna Wong outside her playmaking are welcome because they ease the pressure.

Not since the first title team of Season 76 (2014) has there been a grittier Ateneo team. Of course, that latter team takes the cake for they finished with a 10-4 record, defeating Adamson in the first round of the step-ladder format. They knocked down NU with its twice-to-beat advantage in the semifinals, then nipped La Salle with its thrice-to-beat advantage for a most memorable championship.

UST of course has more of a Cinderella story if not grittier season. From a 4-10 Season 80 to a 10-4 Season 81. Talk about a turnaround. A 180-degree turnaround. 

They lost two key players — Tin Francisco in the preseason and Milena Alessandrini to a season-ending injury early in the first round. Instead of coming up with excuses to bottle the season, they batted down the hatches and fought their way back. And with a 10-4 record in the elims, they seized the twice-to-beat advantage that they used to the hilt in dispatching La Salle. 

Talking to Eddie Laure, father of UST’s wondrous rookie Eya Laure, the other day, he said that her daughter was battling fatigue in that second game against La Salle. 

“She’s been playing heavy minutes, but gusto niya at ng team niya manalo. So binigay ang lahat,” he said proudly. 

UST head coach Kung Fu Reyes believes that his team is peaking at the right time. 

“Gutom din,” he surmised. 

Reyes’ team — this old-time volleyball power — has been denied a Final Four slot for so long. Even his rookies, who came up from the girls’ ranks, have also been denied at their level.

“Puwede ka tumiklop,” summed up Reyes. “Andyan ang mga excuse. Pero tulad ng sinasabi natin, ‘maglalaro ka ba o ayaw niyo na?’ Kami? Marami pa kami ilalaro. Meron ibubuga.”