ATENEO LADY EAGLES: DEFYING THE ODDS Standard A few days before this Season 76 of UAAP Women’s Volleyball started, a bucket of statements were posted on the Internet forecasting the flow of the volleyball tournament, especially the standings of every team, if which teams will enter the Final Four. It was predicted that the DLSU Lady Spikers will surely be in the top four, along with the NU Lady Bulldogs, Adamson Lady Falcons, and the FEU Lady Tamaraws. But where are the Ateneo Lady Eagles here? The last two seasons’ second placers? Why are they extremely pulled down in the standings? According to the predictions, the Soaring Lady Eagles are going to fly a little lower this season. But the netizens beg to disagree because apparently, Ateneo went beyond everyone’s expectations and is the most talked about Women’s Volleyball team now. There were a lot of factors that caused the volleyball fans pre-proclaimed that the Lady Eagles will not be a highlight this season. Disadvantages seemed to pour down on the remaining Lady Eagles. Let us take a look at these. Sayonara, Fab Five. The departure of the multi-awarded, exceptional setter of Ateneo, Jem Ferrer, as she graduated was a great loss for the team. In addition, the sources of Ateneo’s power-spikes, Fille Cainglet, Gretchen Ho, Dzi Gervacio and Aillysse Nacachi, left Ateneo too, leaving the legacy to the younger starter, Alyssa Valdez. It was forecasted then that after the Fab 5 of Ateneo graduated from collegiate volleyball, the remaining Lady Eagles cannot defy the odds. Not anymore. Ateneo Lady Eaglets. This new team of Ateneo coming into Season 76 are mostly baby eagles. Only Alyssa Valdez, Ella de Jesus and Denise Lazaro, their libero, have been the starters for the previous seasons. Together with the first years that were recruited to play for the team, all are basically rookies. The players who we are seeing playing right now are practically in a young team – younger than any other team in the UAAP Women’s Volleyball tournament. Long-Term Injuries. Not only that the Fab 5 left the younger eaglets, but during the early stages of the season, the key players of Ateneo – Jirah Llaneta, Marge Tejada, and one of the early candidates for Rookie of the Year, Ana Gopico – got injured. Due to this unforeseen scenario, the coaching staff of Ateneo has to rebuild the starters and change some of the players’ positions. Amy Ahomiro, who was a utility spiker for the team, has turned into a middle spiker as Tejada cannot play yet; and Michelle Morente, a rookie, has to fill in Ahomiro’s spot. !@#$%^&*!@#$%^&*#. After Coach Roger Gorayeb left Ateneo, the university recruited a new coach for the team and he is Thai! He cannot fluently speak English, and of course Filipino too, which makes language barrier a major problem for Ateneo. So, new coach? Check. Communication? It is still in progress. But what the Ateneo Lady Eagles have been performing this season, most notably in the Stepladder round, has successfully defied everyone’s expectations. The heavens must have poured down a few disadvantages on the Lady Eagles’ wings but these factors apparently cannot prevent the kids from soaring higher this Season 76. Everyone expected that the graduation of Fab Five might make the Ateneo Women’s Volleyball team weaker but no, it is not happening. After the eliminations, the ADMUWVT ended being in 3rd place behind La Salle (1) and NU (2). But they did not just stop there. During the Stepladder round, Ateneo has successfully defeated Adamson, and eventually beaten NU, which had a twice-to-beat advantage. It was confirmed that it was the first time in the UAAP Women’s Volleyball history that a team that has a twice-to-beat advantage is defeated. In this first time, it was Ateneo sweeping NU. Bottom line: In every bitter ending (graduation of Fab Five) comes another sweet beginning. Moreover, this Ateneo team that we are having right now may be a young, and therefore less experienced, team but as what the cliché states, “Age does not matter”. And yes, when Ateneo was against the other teams, age really did not matter. We can also add here height and experience. Other teams obviously are taller and more experienced than the shorter and younger Ateneo. But what seem to matter more in this season are the girls’ skills and resilience. A team may have greater experience and height but these can be carried off if the team cannot supplement those with skills’ consistency and sustainability. This is apparent when Ateneo’s resilience has beaten NU’s height twice during the Stepladder round and when Ateneo’s confidence took advantage of La Salle’s inconsistency and ended their 30-match winning streak. Bottom line: Heart > Height. Resilience > Experience. Injuries may have dismantled Ateneo’s original fighting strategy, especially that the injured players, Gopico, Tejada, and Llaneta, were the previous starters of the team. The position of Gopico, who was performing very well as a rookie, is now being utilized by Morente. Tejada, furthermore, is now replaced by Ahomiro as the middle spiker. A lot of adjustments has been made and it seems that every change has been working! In fact, instead of calling it “change” or “adjustment”, why not call it “improvement”? Morente has been playing effectively as a utility spiker and has made double-digit points in the previous games; and Ahomiro in her new position has been doing great as middle blocker and a quicker too. During the Finals Game 1 between Ateneo and La Salle, Morente even outnumbered Valdez in producing points for the team. And Morente is just a rookie! Bottom line: Now, we are watching the Ateneo WVT Version 2.0. Better. Braver. Bolder. Also, the Ateneo ladies may have been experiencing difficulties when it comes to conversing with Coach Tai Bundit, the not-so-fluent English speaker coach of Ateneo, but it looks like the native Thai coach has found a sweet connection with the Lady Eagles. By always using the words Happy, Heart, and Strong, Coach Tai has done an effective way to boost the girls’ morale and confidence. In every timeout, you would always hear the coach say “Happy. Happy. Strong. Okay? Heart. Strong. Believe. Okay?” He may have just been using one-word sentences but these repetitive words are the words that the girls carry with them in the court. Every time the girls approach for an attack, you would hear Coach Tai saying “Strong! Strong!” And now you will see the players playing happily, strongly, and with their hearts integrated in their plays, and yes, these have brought them to the Finals. Bottom line: Truly, one word is enough for a wise volleyball player. People have anticipated that the Ateneo Lady Eagles will end as the lowest underdog this season but the girls evidently have proved them wrong. They have gone beyond everyone’s expectations. They have overcome the prowess of the Lady Bulldogs, soared higher than the Lady Falcons, and spiked harder than the Lady Spikers (during the Finals Game 1). No one expected them to be where they are right now. Statistically as of today, March 7, 2014, they have tied the Finals game with La Salle. And this is something – being the first team to steal a match from La Salle this season. The Ateneo Lady Eagles may be overachieving this season but they truly deserve a pat on the back because of their resilience. Whatever is the overall result of the season, the Ateneo Lady Eagles, the thought-to-be underdogs, have manifestly become the Soaring Eagles that no one thought could soar and fly even higher.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 06:54:34 +0000
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