Bulldogs set out to prove that there is life after Belen, Solomon

National University begins life without Bella Belen and Alyssa Solomon starting Sunday when the Lady Bulldogs, who built a UAAP dynasty behind those two, battle University of Santo Tomas as Season 88 of the women’s volleyball competition gets going at Mall of Asia Arena.

The duo changed the landscape of NU volleyball from high school to college and ended their collegiate careers with three titles in the last four years.

Both stars turned pro after their fourth playing year and had a successful golden repeat against La Salle last year, with three-time MVP Belen emerging as the PVL’s top overall draft pick with Capital1 and Solomon taking her act to Japan with Osaka Marvelous.

The gold standard they established now serves as both inspiration and challenge for the Bulldogs, who will now be led by Vange Alinsug, Shaira Jardio and Lams Lamina, as they are eager to prove they can remain title contenders.

“We’ve been to competitions last year, we’ve been to training camps, we’ve been training most of the year, and we’re just doing our best every day,” said new NU coach Regine Diego.

“That batch [spent] like eight years or more together, and this year we’re trying to rebuild,” she said. “We’re trying to replicate that batch in less than a year.”

Diego, the fourth NU coach in the last four seasons, urges her wards to turn those high expectations into a blueprint for a “three-peat.”

“Of course, there will be expectations, of course, there will be pressure, but that batch also is our guide,” she said. “Hopefully, we can make everyone proud by doing our best this year, and I know it’s going to be a very tough competition this year.”

“I think everyone’s going to be very competitive. So what we can do is play together, play well, and do our best.”

Revolving door

With a revolving door of head coaches for NU despite reaching the finals in the last four seasons, Diego allowed her wards to make their own system, combining all the things they learned from previous champion coaches Karl Dimaculangan, Norman Miguel and Sherwin Meneses.

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“With what happened to NU coaches before, these girls have a problem doing the same thing again, adjusting to changes,” she said.

So this time I want them to make their own system, what they think they’re good at, what they think works, what they’re comfortable with.

“I tried to make it a them-system, so it’s a hodgepodge of all the things they’ve learned from the past few years.

“Hopefully, it works by just reinforcing what they’re good at, reinforcing all the best practices they’ve been with all the coaches because it’s hard to put up another system that they have to learn again.”

Two-time Best Setter Lamina, Co-Finals MVP Alinsug and Jardio, Arah Panique, Celine Marsh and rookie Sam Cantada open their road to “three-peat” against UST, led by graduating libero Detdet Pepito, the returning Jonna Perdido, Reg Jurado, Angge Poyos and Cassie Carballo under returning UAAP coach Shaq Delos Santos.