UAAP: La Salle bags five championships

It started out with the DLSU Green Jins, who stormed through the competition and finished atop the league to bag La Salle’s first UAAP Season 76 championship.

Then the DLSU Green Paddlers emerged as the top seed at the end of the UAAP Table Tennis eliminations after losing just one game. They eventually emerged as champions as well, handily beating FEU in the finals.

The DLSU Lady Judokas then followed suit, winning their first UAAP championship in team history during the two-day tournament as defending champion UST was relegated to fourth place.

The gold rush continued with the basketball teams, as both the DLSU Green Archers and Lady Archers ended long championship droughts after battling through a long season of ups and downs.

“The championships means a lot to the community. It brings the community together. It animates the whole community to become more appreciative of the talents that we have in the Lasallian community, not only in academics but also in sports,” shares DLSU President and Chancellor Br. Ricky Laguda, FSC.

Four Lasallians were named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) in their tournaments as well, namely senior DLSU Green Tanker Johansen Aguilar, Green Jin Kevin Sia, Lady Judoka Nicole More and Green Paddler Walden Ledesma.

When asked what values of these champion athletes he wishes the Lasallian students would emulate, Laguda shares, “I think they have a lot of discipline and a lot of teamwork so if students learn these two basic values, which are very important in any kind of work, I think they’ll be successful.”

After seven sports and a total of 15 gold medals available, La Salle comes out on top of the UAAP Season 76 General Championship (UAAP GC) race after winning five championships, four silver medals and two bronze medals. A first place finish gives schools 15 points, second place merits 12 points, third place is worth 10 points, and it goes all the way down to eighth place, which garners one point.

La Salle leads the pack with a total of 162 points, but UST trails closely with 146 points. UP and Ateneo round out the top four teams with 133 and 125 points respectively, while FEU, NU, UE and Adamson, in that order, close out the rest of the rankings.

Long way to the top

The Green Jins cruised through the competition and hoping to improve from last season’s runner-up finish, they buckled down and finished with an undefeated record that awarded them the championship. It was the first championship for the team since 2010 and just their fourth in history.

Hoping to improve from last season’s runner up finish, the Green Paddlers won their first two assignments before losing to FEU at the end of day one. From then on, they remained undefeated, even in the championship round, wherein they were able to avenge their lone loss to FEU by beating them in the finals.

The Lady Judokas had never tasted championship glory before, yet on September 29, 2013, they propelled themselves to their first title by amassing three golds, two silvers, and a bronze medal in the UAAP Judo tourney. Nicole More was named this season’s MVP, as she helped the Lady Judokas improve from last year’s fourth place finish to dethrone defending champion UST.

After winning the preseason crown over defending UAAP champion FEU, the Lady Archers were confident that they could repeat the same feat, this time in the UAAP. The Lady Archers finished at 12-2, good enough for second overall, behind eventual finals opponent NU. After beating UST in a come-from-behind thriller, DLSU faced NU in a best-of-three series that went down to the last game, which they won, 69-61, to give head coach Tyrone Bautista his first title and it was the team’s first since 2002. Trisha Piatos was named Finals MVP as she averaged 14.7 points along with two blocks and two steals in the three finals games.

When head coach Juno Sauler was installed a few weeks before the UAAP tilt, everyone counted the Green Archers out of the Final Four picture. With their 3-4 first round showing, it seemed as if the critics were on the dot. Yet after a nine game winning streak that saw them cruise to the finals, everyone knew that the Green Archers were the team to beat. In the finals, La Salle faced a tough UST team that overcame a twice-to-beat disadvantage in the semifinals. After splitting their first two games, both teams slugged it out in the third and final game as it went into overtime. DLSU came out on top, 71-69, and Jeron Teng was named Finals MVP.

Back-to-back?

As the month of comes to a close, a new set of Lasallian athletes are ready to take center stage and fight for school pride. The second semester of the UAAP will begin by the end of November as 14 Lasallian teams will be participating in seven sporting events. The seven sports for the next semester of play are football, indoor volleyball, tennis, fencing, chess, baseball and athletics.

An increase in La Salle’s current lead in the UAAP GC tally come the second semester seems likely considering the stellar showings of these teams last season. It seems like the best is yet to come, and if things go as planned, a second UAAP GC seems to be highly possible come March 2014.

“I really would like to thank the players, the coaches, the managers and the sponsors of the team. They have done so much for the Lasallian community. They have given us lots of joy and there’s so much to be thankful for this year,” concludes Laguda.