Nitura’s smashing rookie season comes to a close
Shaina Nitura started her UAAP women’s volleyball career with a very laid-back demeanor. Halfway into her first tournaments, all scoring records were shattered.
Her first season ended on Sunday in a 25-13, 25-21, 25-18 victory by the Lady Falcons over University of the Philippines. There wasn’t a playoff slot at stake, only the fifth spot, pride and the announcement that Adamson will truly be a force next year with Nitura leading the way.
But the goggles-wearing attacker, who comes to games in a ponytail or a bun hairstyle, refuses to take it that way, even after all she has done in a Season 87 that turned out to be her scoring showcase.
“Our win today was all about teamwork. All of us contributed,” said Nitura after leading the Falcons to a 6-8 finish and fifth place. “When one of us worked, the others followed.
“When someone falls down, one of us will pick them up,” she went on. “This isn’t the last but only the beginning for us.”
All-time total
All told, Nitura scored 371 total points, easily eclipsing the mark of 312 ex-Ateneo superstar Alyssa Valdez chalked up 10 years ago.
Also going down was the rookie record of 32 points that Angge Poyos had that, when established last season for University of Santo Tomas, looked to be very untouchable. She scored 34 in her debut.
And just when everyone thought that the 35 points that Valdez and Sisi Rondina shared as all-time marks would never be broken, Nitura obliterated that with a 38-point masterpiece in a losing cause to, interestingly enough, the Fighting Maroons last March 16.
She ended her first season with a modest 22-point output.
Modest because she had six 30-plus point games throughout the course of a season that had stars like Alyssa Solomon, and Bella Belen, Angel Canino, Poyos and a handful of others who never got close to what Nitura churned out.
Again, she never took credit, deflecting it to the Almighty, her teammates and coaches for giving her the chance.
“It’s God’s will. Everything that happened was His will, and I’ll keep trusting Him in the coming seasons.”
