Ivy Remulla: The Millenium Spiker

As the first round of UAAP Season 76 comes close to a close, the second half teams and events are shaping up to be some of this year’s most anticipated bouts and head turners with the Lady Spikers spearheading the anticipated highlights as they continue to seek their fourth straight championship in the league.

However, before the Lady Spikers took the UAAP volleyball stage to new heights in the current era, the Lady Spikers of the year 2000 tore down barriers as they reached the pinnacle of their season campaign with the rallying morale of their team captain, who stood up to all challenges and responded to the call of duty, despite an injury and controversy-plagued team.

Together with a four year run with the Lady Spikers from 1996 onwards, team captain Ivy Remulla took the helm of the Green-and-White as they entered the UAAP finals in the year 2000 wherein they squared off against the FEU Lady Tamaraws for the coveted championship throne.

The championship was within arm’s reach, but it slipped away from the fingers of the Remulla-led squad as the defending champions succumbed to the Lady Tamaraws in the final round. Despite the heartbreaking championship loss to the Morayta-based spikers, Remulla, together with her natural grace and volleyball prowess, left the team with a legacy that they will forever keep.

A green past

With her Lasallian roots sprouting from her early days in De La Salle Zobel, Remulla immediately joined the Lady Spikers in her freshman year with DLSU after former Lady Spiker Joy Benitez recruited her for the team.

The adaptation and the transition was quick for the future captain of the Lady Spikers, as she was immediately recognized as a core factor on the team’s front line, may it be on the offensive or defensive end. Although the finals crown may have eluded her in her first UAAP stint, Remulla eventually bagged the crown after being teamed up with Ortega and Macasaet in a team driven by their hunger for the UAAP championship trophy.

Remulla shared that her strategy is preferably a ‘team effort game’ over the ‘one-player-versus-a whole team concept’.

The captain’s story

In the year 2000, La Salle’s hopes and dreams for a gold medal in the Women’s Volleyball tournament were rent asunder due to the feeling pressure from the departure of Sally Macasaet and Iris Ortega from the team’s active roster.

The Lady Spiker powerhouse player Macasaet, was left out of the game due to the needed recovery from appendicitis, while delivering another blow to the team was Ortega, who left the roster even before the season kicked off.

Their ticket to the finals was now in jeopardy as the Lady Spikers, after standing atop the finals for three years straight, were incapacitated with Ortega leaving her zone behind and Macasaet unable to perform as an offensive or defensive asset for the team, unlike in past seasons.

Regardless of the injuries and the issues that haunted the team, one player stepped up with hopes of achieving the crown, even with the handicaps in play. In 2000 though, Remulla, without Ortega and Macasaet, gained the solitary function of leading the team towards the promised land. “Everybody has to really step up,” shared Remulla in the October 2000 issue of The LaSallian.

With Far Eastern University awaiting them at the final stage, Remulla entered with no fear and a courageous heart despite a minor injury to the knee that pestered her in the preceding Final Four.

Former Lady Spikers’ coach Oliver Almadro upholds Remulla as the team’s on and off switch for the reason that she sets the momentum for the rest of the roster when they are in play. Almadro also shares that Remulla, as a captain, cannot lose her grip on the floor. If she does, then the whole team goes down with her, but when she steps on the gas, the end game finishing technique of the team would signal apocalypse for the opposing university.

With exceptional elegance, the hard hitting force on the floor known as Remulla led the team towards a fighting finish after UAAP Season 63, despite losing to Far Eastern University. Her mastery on the floor and impeccable style kept the team grounded yet aggressive on all sides of the floor, and she will forever be a testament and legacy to what the Lady Spikers are all about.