UAAP: Green, Lady Spikers still far from gold

The UE Caloocan sand courts became hostile to the DLSU Lady Spikers for another season as they concluded with a fourth place finish in the UAAP Women’s Beach Volleyball tournament. Kim Fajardo, Cienne Cruz and Cyd Demecillo failed to make it to the finals and they dropped a place from last season when DLSU finished third.

On the other hand, the DLSU Green Spikers had different luck this season. The tercet of Red Christensen, Jopet Movido, and Mike Frey lost all of their seven games in the eliminations and it led to an eighth place finish.

Meanwhile, the AdU Lady Falcons swept the UST Tigresses in their best-of-three Finals series and were crowned as the new season champions. AdU’s Sheila Mae Pineda was awarded the season MVP while FEU’s Kyla Atienza was named the Rookie of the Year. For the men’s division, the NU Bulldogs successfully defended their championship against the UST Growling Tigers and earned the title of back-to-back champions. NU’s Edwin Tolentino was named the MVP for the second straight season.

An uncertain path

The Lady Spikers failed to conclude the season with a championship and landed fourth, a place lower from their finish last season. The UST Tigresses ended La Salle’s championship aspirations after they emerged victorious in their knockout semifinal game.

A lack of experience and practice were the major challenges for fresh partners Fajardo and Cruz. “Hindi pa kami ganung ka-solid ng partner ko kasi first time namin magpartner sa beach volley so wala pa kaming experience. First time talaga ‘to”, explains Fajardo.

Their tandem was overwhelmed by struggles early in the season as they suffered back-to-back losses at the hands of the UST Tigresses and AdU Lady Falcons. They also fell short against the NU Lady Bulldogs but managed to bounce back against their other foes and it eventually was enough to bring them into the Final our.

The Lady Spikers were just a win away from making it into the finals after UST bowed to them in their first semi final match-up. However, things collapsed for the Lady Spikers in the second game that led to the end of their tourney.

“Yung naging performance namin siguro kulang pa kasi wala kaming court. So hindi kami masyado nagti-training”, adds Fajardo.

Despite of a failed attempt to bring to Taft their first UAAP Women’s Beach Volleyball championship, Fajardo shares, “Thankful na rin kami na nakapasok kami sa top four kasi noong una naman, yun naman yung unang naging goal namin.”

Overlooked the right itinerary

The Green Spikers, contrasting from the team’s female counterpart, completed the season with a bag full of heartbreaks. The Taft-based Spikers failed to pull off a single victory for La Salle and finished with an unfamiliar ending. What hurt head coach Ronald Dulay’s squad all throughout their games were their late-game collapses and unforced errors which were hurriedly rehabilitated into points by their antagonists.

Christensen, Movido, and Frey suffered defeats of various natures from the seven remaining competitors in the league. In their last game against Adamson, the Green Spikers almost nailed their very first triumph but faltered at the end.

Far from their Final Four finish from last season, the Green Spikers ended the season with a 0-7 win-loss slate, and ranked eighth in the team standings.

Learning process

Cruz had major concerns with her service errors and spiking that led to poor performances in some of their games. “Ako personally, nung mga first games ko dito, nabalik ko na naman yung errors ko sa service tapos yung palo ko. Nahirapan din ako magbasa sa kalaban”, Cruz explains.

But more than just improving ball control, Fajardo shared that more focus on Beach Volleyball training would help the teams to become better in the future seasons since there were instances that they only trained once a week instead of three days. “Siguro mas okay kung tututukan yung team ng Beach Volley mismo, hindi yung mahahati pa. Tsaka yung training mo regular”, Fajardo suggests.

“Sayang kasi alam naman namin na kaya namin pero siguro nakulangan kami na ibigay yung best namin. Siguro babawi kami sa next season”, concludes Cruz.