New NCAA volleyball season unfolds
HE first Thursday of the year was the opening day of the 93rd season of the NCAA volleyball tournament. Held at the Fil-Oil Flying V Centre in San Juan, athletes from member schools were present together with their coaches as well as their schoolmates. Also in attendance was no less than the Larong Volleyball sa Pilipinas president who is also the first vice president of the Philippine Olympic Committee, Joey Romasanta. In his speech, he thanked the league, which he pertained to as the “glamour league of Philippine sports,” for promoting and uplifting volleyball in the country. He also mentioned that he hopes for more national team players from the NCAA.
The games began after guest Yohan Hwang serenaded the crowd. Featured in the main event were the women’s division matches between San Sebastian College- Recoletos (SSC-R) and Emilio Aguinaldo College (EAC) as well as defending champions Arellano University (AU) and Mapua University (MU).
This year, not only did the San Sebastian Lady Stags lose last season’s MVP Grethcel Soltones but they also must plunge into action with a thin nine-player lineup. Only eight of them were present and firststringer Julie Tiangco was hampered by injury. Coach Roger Gorayeb, in an interview, said that this would probably be the first time he’s worried about not making it to the top four. But winning the afternoon’s game in straight sets with just seven people in the team gave him some confidence. As expected, without their star player, scoring was more distributed resulting in four players— Sta. Rita, Encarnacion, Santos and Dalisay tallying 13 points apiece.
On the other hand, the EAC Lady Generals, behind their new coach, had an interesting story. Rod Palmero succeeded Leo Rivera whose hands are now full mentoring the national indoor hockey team. In an interview, new team captain Chellesi Chan said she feels confident with the new system introduced by Palmero, noting that the team is well disciplined and with more grit. Although they’ve lost to the Stags in straight sets, their improvement is notable throughout the match especially in terms of attacks. Score of the match was 25-16, 25-19 and 25-16.
In the other women’s match, the Lady Chiefs played no less than 100 percent. They easily cruised through their first match against the MU Lady Cardinals in straight sets—2510, 25- 17, 25- 13. MU also debuted with a new coach, Jan Paul Doloiras, who led the UST Tigers to a back-to-back championship in UAAP beach volleyball. The Lady Cardinals kept same rhythm all throughout the match— starting strong and lagging behind by the middle part of the sets. Considering the teams’ performances in the first day, it seems like AU is the team to beat this NCAA season.
Prior to the opening ceremonies, matches between SSC-R and EAC junior’s and men’s divisions were held with the latter winning both games. AU also triumphed in the men’s division (played after the women’s matches) in the first day of games.