Alinsug, new face of NU program for coming years, shows her worth
Vange Alinsug stepped up in a big way when one of National University’s big guns fired blanks on Sunday, and that was a big reason why the Lady Bulldogs have a chance to wrap up the Season 87 crown of the UAAP women’s volleyball tournament on Wednesday.
She insisted, though, that there was nothing special behind what she did.
“We didn’t do anything different because what we are doing was not for ourselves alone but for the team,” Alinsug told the Inquirer in Filipino after firing 21 points, including the match-clinching point in a 25-17, 25-21, 13-25, 25-17 Game 1 victory over La Salle.
Her offensive explosion more than made up for the silent contribution of just nine points from top gun Alyssa Solomon.
“There’s nothing different because we really put in a team effort. You can see it in the stats,” Alinsug said as she was the puzzle that the Lady Spikers failed to solve.
“There wasn’t a special instruction. Maybe I just got the opportunity and we really fought hard for it,” she added. “But coach Sherwin [Meneses] instructed me to outplay them because they’re big.”
La Salle got to this stage with its blocking, but the Taft-based crew couldn’t make that to work against Alinsug and the Bulldogs, who have won all three games against the Lady Spikers this season.
Embracing the responsibility
“We just try to outsmart [their defense] because they’re really like a wall,” Alinsug said of the La Salle blocking. “If you hit them hard, they’ll come back to you hard. Coach Sherwin instructed me to line, to cross, and that’s what we trained for.”
That Game 1 performance by Alinsug is a sign that, even with the impending departure of Belen and Solomon, the Bulldogs’ program will still be in good, able hands.
And as early as this year, the 22-year-old outside hitter is embracing the responsibility of organizing a proper send-off to her seniors by not allowing the ghosts of the past to happen again.
“We won’t let what happened in [Season] 85 happen again,” Alinsug said, referring to her rookie year when NU first missed its shot for back-to-back titles after falling to La Salle.
“I was there and I remember how it felt,” she said as the Bulldogs look to finally rewrite a different ending.
