Midseason take
True as billed, the women’s volleyball competition in Season 80 of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) has turned out to be competitive and exciting with no clear-cut runaway winner yet. A month of play in the classification round, almost all of the eight teams competing have shown good form to at least advance to the next round and maybe later on in the championship phase.
The National University ( NU) Lady Bulldogs have been the closest to being considered as “unstoppable” in Season 80, sporting a league- leading 6-1 record at the halfway point.
Not too far behind are the defending champions De La Salle Lady Spikers and Far Eastern University ( FEU) Lady Tamaraws with identical 5- 2 cards.
At solo fourth place are the Ateneo Lady Eagles at 4- 3 followed by the Adamson Lady Falcons at 3-4.
Joint sixth place with 2- 5 records are the University of the Philippines ( UP) Lady Fighting Maroons and University of Santo Tomas (UST) Golden Tigresses while at the bottom are the University of the East ( UE) Lady Warriors ( 1- 6). Showing far better recognition of the talent and capabilities it has than any other team to date, it is little wonder that NU is on top of the heap.
Under new coach Babes Castillo, the Lady Bulldogs are seemingly on a mission, particularly skipper Jaja Santiago, who has been a “tower of power” for her team, averaging a second tournament- best 20.1 points.
Setter Jasmine Nabor, too, is on point in her “facilitating” duties with Risa Sato, Roselyn Doria, Aiko Urdas and Audrey Paran providing quality contributions.
NU has been responding well to the “introspective” coaching style of Castillo and its current record is a testament to that.
While La Salle does not have the “invincible” aura it had in seasons past, it remains a force to be reckoned with because of coach Ramil De Jesus.
The Lady Spikers are a team in transition in one form or another but you can hardly tell because of their coach who continues to be on top of things — not mincing words when they are derailing from their goals and adamant in bringing forth their good qualities to be in better position to succeed.
And that being said, it is hard not to believe that the road to the UAAP championship still has to go through La Salle.
FEU, meanwhile, has been “go- getting” personified so far in Season 80, which makes the Lady Tamaraws all the more dangerous.
It dealt NU its lone defeat so far and that was not of pure luck but more of the team adjusting and making the right decisions as far as its game plan goes.
The Lady Tamaraws’ 5- 2 record is a solid notice to the competition and the field should take notice.
Ateneo is a team in transition as well but has been handling it well enough.
It opened its campaign with back- to- back losses before winning four of its last five matches.
I do not expect the team to top the standings anew when the elimination concludes but the Lady Eagles should be there in the mix of the playoff picture as they continue to have a firm grip of the kind of team they have.
Adamson, for its part, has it up and down up to this point of the tournament but undeniably it is a better team now than its more recent iterations.
How the Lady Falcons seemingly took for granted UE in their last game that led to a loss is a bit disappointing because they looked like they were ready to soar only to fall back on the ground.
Good thing there is still time to adjust and for their own good they should learn from that episode.
UP compared to last year has lost some ground as new coach Gody Okumu said they are still growing.
It pains me to see the Lady Maroons struggle the way they do, especially so that in the previous two years they were Final Four contenders. “Trust the process” could not be truer with the team. At 2- 5, UST is a far better team than that, it is just that injuries to key players have set them back considerably.
Sisi Rondina has been stellar on the offensive end for the Tigresses, with a league- leading 21.6 points per game; now if only UST could provide more support for her.
UE has been tailending anew in the UAAP but make no mistake it has been competing well.
It has changed coach midway into the tournament but the Lady Warriors have proven themselves not to be taken for granted ( ask Adamson) and such should continue moving forward.
The first round is over and now on to the second fold. Who makes their move and who does not? Let us find out.