UAAP: DLSU earns double championships in Table Tennis

DLSU reigned supreme in this year’s UAAP Table Tennis tournament as both the Green Paddlers and the Lady Paddlers beat both the UP men’s and women’s Paddlers to emerge as champions last October 2 at the Blue Eagle Gym.

Entering the competition as the defending champions, the Green Paddlers swept the entire competition and finished not only as back-to-back champions but also ended up with an undefeated record. The Lady Paddlers on the other hand, avenged their finals loss last year to UP and climbed all the way to the top after beginning the playoffs as the third seed.

“One word, dominate,” Green Paddler Walden Ledesma said when asked about this season. “Dominate lang talaga.”

Top of the table

Finishing the elimination round with an unblemished record allowed the Green Paddlers to advance straight to the finals and at the same time, earned the thrice-to-beat advantage. UP on the other hand, overcame UST’s twice to beat advantage to set up a UP-DLSU affair for both the men’s and women’s table tennis tournament. However against the Green Paddlers, UP came up empty as DLSU swept the finals en route to a second championship in as many years. Jerald Cristobal was hailed as the tournament MVP, with the graduating captain succeeding in ending his career on a high note.

“Actually, yung secret talaga namin ay yung isa’t-isa yan yung naginspire sa amin to work hard, to fight until the end kaya, talagang binigay namin ang all heart namin,” Ledesma mentioned, adding that they treated every game like a championship game.

Coach Lauro Crisostomo’s squad’s two titles have not only been a testament to their consistent performance but also showed how they continued to improve even after finishing on top for the past two years.

“Well, siguro sa hard work lang at tiyaka sa mga players ko, tiwala sa isa’t-isa dahil alam naman namin na itong laban na ito hindi mahirap para sa mga players,” the proud mentor said. “Kaya sabi ko sa kanila, one [game] at a time lang hanggang sa makuha natin ang championship.”

From third to first

After their stellar performance against FEU in the semifinals, the Lady Paddlers moved on to the finals to face one of their greatest threats UP, who beat them twice during the elimination round. In spite of this, the Lady Paddlers entered their finals match with utmost confidence that they can dethrone the defending champs.

The Lady Paddlers got the early advantage after DLSU’s Donna Gamilla pulled a 3-1 upset against UP’s number one singles player, Morales. UP’s Sibal then tied the match at one win apiece by beating Jamaicah Sy in four sets. To top it off, The doubles team of Ching and Magpantay grabbed the lead for UP by beating DLSU’s Carreon and Talento thereby, putting the pressure on the Lady Paddlers. Fortunately for them, team captain Yanyan Lariba took no chances with her singles match against UP’s Maderal and finished the game quickly in three sets. The match was then down to one last rubber match between DLSU’s Ina Co and UP’s Nishino. With the pressure on for both players, Co managed to keep her composure and finish the game to give the Lady Paddlers the victory for the first match and a win away from claiming the throne.

After a disappointing loss in the first match, UP immediately bounced back to take the first game of the contest, wherein Morales beat Sy in five sets. Unfortunately for the Lady Maroons, Gamilla answered back with a 3-0 victory over UP’s Sibal. Things started going well for the Lady Paddlers as the team of Carreon and Talento finally found the answer to UP’s doubles team, Ching and Magpantay. The 3-1 victory of DLSU in the doubles match gave them a 2-1 advantage making them one win away from dethroning the defending champs. With one game away from taking the title, what better way to secure it than sending out your star player to seal the match and true enough, it worked. With the 3-0 win by Lariba over UP’s Nishino, the Lady Paddlers were named the champs of 77th season of the UAAP Table Tennis tournament. In addition to this, Lariba was named this year’s MVP.

According to Lariba, this was truly her sweetest victory mainly because of what the team has gone through throughout the season. “Sa stage, parang hindi pa ako mapaniwala na champion talaga kami kasi sobra dami naming struggles physically, mentally, emotionally as in super pero, naging possible kasi bawat isa hindi bumitaw, bawat isa nagtiwala at nag gain ng confidence and most especially, si Lord siyempre hindi sumuko sa amin,” says Lariba describing her experience.

After a great season for both teams, the Paddlers made history by earning DLSU’s first double championship. But this wouldn’t have been possible without their composure and confidence as a team. It was really their belief and trust in each others abilities that propelled them over the other teams this season along with a never say die attitude.

“Sabi ko sa kanila, tiwala lang sa sarili dahil kahit sino naman, may laban yan kasi walang underdog dito, walang lamang dito basta laban lang,” says Crisostomo as he narrated his advice to the team.